Just Like Cows
by pancakes21
Summary: Set in the future of Tokyo Ghoul, where the CCG wasn't able to suppress Aogiri, and the ghoul organization managed to take over Tokyo. But what happens to all the humans left in the city?
1. The Doors of Fate

**Due to the nature of this fic, it's going to be pretty dark at times, just a warning. But as Dumbledore once said, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light."**

* * *

The Mysterious Light from the outside trickled in slightly as the Handler pushed open the door. "Number 20683?" the gruff-faced ghoul called out.

Number 19348, along with everyone else who _wasn't_ Number 20683 sighed in relief; they would be allowed to live another day. For now.

As soon as the Handler led the frightened-looking 20683 out through the Doors of Fate from the huge warehouse, the whisperers commenced.

 _He was such a good worker._

 _He was so kind to all the Littles._

 _He still owed me a pack of smokes._

Too bad none of that mattered now. All memories of 20683 would fade away as quickly as it took him to walk across the warehouse floor to his doom. And such was the fate of all humans.

At least it was all 19348, and everyone else in the room has ever known.

19348 had been raised in the 3rd Ward processing plant with her family, and just like all humans at her age under the care of ghouls, was sent away to a breeding farm as soon as she hit puberty. 19348 heard a rumor once that this was how humans used to treat others - animals and other people - and now we were just getting what we deserved. That was only a rumor though.

You hear lots of rumours growing up in a processing plant, and even more when you get sent to the farm. It's like since humans have no other thing that brings them joy, they must gossip and cut down other people. Nobody's your friend after you get sent away from your parents.

Luckily for 19348, she was classified as 'very' fertile. She didn't know what that meant, other than the fact that she would be allowed to live a few years longer than the other humans as long as she kept doing what she has been doing. After the fourth one though, they just seemed to walk out. Piece of cake.

As for the Handlers, they didn't really seem to bother much with the humans. It wasn't a glorious job for a ghoul, but hey, it payed the bills. Luckily for ghouls, humans were pretty self-reliant, and required little maintenance. They were fairly inexpensive to keep, as they could grow their own food and could keep track of their nutrients on their own. Not to mention they could clean up after themselves, and although they stank after a while, a simple bath before being sent to the processing plant would do the trick.

"I'm next!" shouted a Crier from somewhere in the crowded store house. 19348 knew that voice, and took it up as a sort of moral duty to help pacify the Criers, but decided not to deal with it tonight. It was a young girl who arrived at the farm nearly 11 months ago, and she still had not conceived. Which was a problem. "Help me! Please, somebody! I'm next!" her shrill voice rang out and reverberated from the cold stone walls. For females, by the end of the first year at the farms if you still didn't have any babies, you were considered 'infertile'.

What happened to you after that was up to chance. If you got off easy, you were sometimes sent to the 'veterinarian', where experiments would take place. A lot of these 'successful' experiments, they were told, were sent to other farms. A lot of times though, you didn't make it back. Either way, it was a whole lot better to go to the veterinarian than to go through the Doors of Fate, where you _knew_ there was no chance in hell of you coming back.

And so 19348 pressed her palms up against her ears as she continued her walk over to her cot in the warehouse. At the Farm, you were given a personal cot in the public vicinity to sleep on that you could use whenever you wanted as long as you weren't on the schedule for 'work'.

The warehouse itself was surrounded by crop fields, and then sectioned off by barbed wire, in where they were assigned to work for their own food - all extras were sent to the processing plants. There was also a separate building adjacent to the warehouse, which everyone just called "The Field" ironically.

In The Field, there were rows and rows of private rooms where you were supposed to go to fulfil the _other_ necessary 'work' of the farm. How it was _supposed_ to go, was a man and a woman were to prearrange a time and check it off in the logbook in the front desk where Handlers were stationed, making sure everyone had logged in enough nights.

Although a lot of the younger ones still did this, after a while you just sort of get used to writing your name down on any available blank slot without looking and 'surprise' yourself the night of. In fact, most did this.

What was nice though, was when you were pregnant you didn't have to go to The Field. Which was why 19348 was getting nervous. In her going on seven years at the farms, she had birthed 8 children. One pair being twins, and her last set being triplets.

That was probably the reason why the Handlers had let her get away so long without going to the Field – nearly two years. She had birthed them enough children for the next three years, but she could sense their patience fading. The ghouls were known for losing their temper.

"Hey Blue!" called out one of her bunk mates.

Although at work, in The Field and during work hours, they would all call each other by their Tag Numbers, at night they would call each other by the _colors_ of their Tags. Nobody really knew what the color code system meant, but it gave all of them a way to be more personal with each other in a way the Handlers didn't seem to mind so much.

Although there could be a bunch of people with the same color tag as you, hardly anybody ever called you that anyway, so it didn't even matter if two people with blue tags were conversing.

"I figured you were busy tonight so I picked up your schedule for you," her bunk mate, Pink, said. The woman handed over the small card, sitting down carefully on her own bed.

"Thanks," Blue mumbled back, glancing down at her card.

 _Monday – Nursery._

 _Tuesday – Kitchen._

 _Wednesday – Nursery._

 _Thursday – Kitchen._

 _Friday – The Field._

 _Saturday – Dishroom._

19348 sighed. They had actually _written_ The Field down on her schedule.

"Hey, don't look so down," said Pink sympathetically, caressing her own huge, swollen belly. "I heard a rumor today that conditions for humans used to be much worse."

"Never believe the rumours. How many times do I have to tell you..." Blue trailed off at her friend. Pink had been one of the lucky ones to actually find a Mate in this hell hole, and _she_ knew who the father of all of her children were. Not all of them were so lucky.

"But I think this one might be true!" Pink said. It was obvious she would not relent.

Blue nodded, signaling for her to go on while she stretched out on her own cot.

"Somebody said that the ghouls used to keep us humans in dungeons underground," she continued, and Blue rolled her eyes.

 _Not another 'this is how things used to be' rumour again,_ she thought disdainfully, but dutifully listened. Out of all the humans at the farm, Blue hated 19930, Pink the least.

"But humans kept dying off due to diseases," she continued. "And of course, that reflects bad for the Handlers, so then they improved conditions."

"And everything is just sunshine and rainbows now then?" Blue snapped back, not really expecting an answer.

Pink took the hint and lied down on her side. "I'm just saying, you should try to look at the bright side. You're always are so negative."

Blue mumbled something about there being no bright side, and then quickly fell asleep.

…...

It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that the Handler came in from the Door of Fate and announced the number Blue had always feared - the number he called that haunted her nightmares, night after night: "19348!"

Immediately Blue's stomach sank and her thoughts raced. _Was that an eight at the end or some other number? Why was she being summoned now of all times? Her infertile years weren't up yet! This wasn't fair!_

"I said number 19348!" repeated the Handler at the Door. Ghouls were impatient, and weren't pretty when they were angry.

Slowly, trembling, Blue walked up the stairs to her own Fate. She didn't think that this day would ever come, at least not anytime soon. Was there anything that she could have done? Could have done differently? Was there a way to escape her Fate, or was her Fate around her the whole time? Humans that were bred only for food could only have one ending, so why was she entertaining this fantasy that she was _so_ special all this time?

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, almost inaudibly to the Handler who stood in front of the Door of Fate, tapping his pen impatiently on the clipboard in his hand. "I'm sorry. But you must have some mistake," she whispered as soon as she reached the top step, just feet away from the Handler. "My year isn't up yet," she choked out.

Ever since her first year at the farm away from her parents, she vowed to never let a ghoul see her cry, but she was already choking up. Hot tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes.

Ignoring her, the ghoul scribbled something on his notepad and opened the door, flooding the warehouse with the Mysterious Light that didn't come from the sun. At first Blue couldn't bring herself to take those steps through the doorway, so the Handler had to give her a little shove.

"No!" she cried, finding strength somewhere within herself. She turned around and bolted back towards the farm. She didn't know were she would go, what she was running towards. A return to captivity? But she knew she did not want to die yet. She didn't want to live her life locked up behind bars, behind a barb wired fence, behind cold, dead stone. She wanted to live, and even though she didn't really know what living meant she knew it was something more than the farms, more than the processing plants, more than The Field.

She heard a rumour once that not all humans were living trapped by ghouls. That somewhere out there, beyond the fields of vegetables and wheat, that there were humans resisting the ghouls. Blue lived by the principle that all rumours were false, but this one stuck with her, and she could not shake it. Perhaps if she could run and keep running towards the abyss, through the wire that held her in, she could find what she was looking for.

But she was already pinned to the ground and being restrained by the Handler who brought her, with little effort. Such was her fate.

"Listen to me you stupid human," sneered the ghoul from on top of her. Ghouls rarely ever talked with humans, and when they did it was always with burning hate and a deep hunger.

"I'd kill you right here if I could, but it looks like you've been requested by someone higher up than me."

Blue stared blankly into the Handler's horrifying face contorted with anger and malice, not allowing herself to cringe or feel fear. If she was going to die, she wouldn't give up so easily. Although she had no idea what his words meant, she knew that it must mean she was not going to die, at least not right away.

Finding in herself a newfound passion for living, she gathered within her dry mouth some saliva, and with all her strength, spit in the Handler's face.

And then all went black.


	2. The Room

When she awoke, Blue found herself inside a strange Room. It looked like one of the Rooms in The Field but larger, with plenty of space to walk around and do other activities in. It disgusted her.

As if on cue with her eyes fluttering open, some Mysterious Light poured into the room, temporarily blinding her while bone-chilling, metallic clicks rattled her ear drums. In an instant the Light was gone, and replaced by the softer glow of a candle. Blue had the pleasure of seeing candles in real life during her time with her parents in the Processing Plant - the Butchers would use them at night on occasion to patrol the halls.

"Are you hungry?" asked the soft voice of the figure holding onto the candle stick, standing motionless in the archway.

Blue moaned slightly from her place huddled in a corner, still dizzy from the Mysterious Light, not quite sure if the talking figure was friend or foe.

Gently the figure placed the candle along with a tray topped with foreign goop on it, all atop a desk situated in a corner of the Room. The figure then made to sit on the bed.

"I've never seen a _live_ human before. I didn't think they'd be so skinny," said the voice, once properly settled. Blue's eyes adjusted to the candle light and saw that the figure on her bed was female, with all the eloquence and grace that ghouls are known to hold within themselves. Carefully, Blue made her way over to the desk and sniffed the tray. She wanted to ask what the mysterious heap on the platter was, but knew better than to talk directly to a ghoul.

"Your pretty," the ghoul said, watching her every movement from the bed, still and observant like a statue or doll. "Tatara will like you."

Blue understood that the stuff on the tray was meant for eating, so hesitantly stuffed a spoonful into her mouth. She guessed it might have been poisoned, but the growling in the pit of her empty stomach was enough to silence away any fears that might have crept up about it. Nothing was worse than starving at the farms. If you were going to die, might as well do it on a full stomach. Eagerly, she scarfed down the rest.

The ghoul began to laugh. "My mother said humans were greedy. I think she was _right_."

Blue picked up her plate and began to lick it clean, trying her best to ignore the ghoul's teasings. Lifting up a hand to wipe the crumbs away from her face, she noticed that her hair had an odd texture. Most of the grime she was so used to living with had been washed from it, along with the rest of her body. She felt _clean_ , oddly enough. _Did they wash her when she was out cold?_ An odd feeling of self consciousness trickled down her back at the thought of strange ghouls looking at her naked. At least in The Field, there was no Light.

"What's your name?" asked the ghoul, leaning forward with feet swinging off the edge of the bed.

"19348," she responded quickly, quietly, not making eye contact, not sounding too haughty, nor too unclear. Ghouls never spoke to humans unless they were in the way, or unless they were being called through the Doors of Fate, and so naturally, Blue wondered why _this_ ghoul was hanging around so much. Surely, she had more pressing matters elsewhere.

"That's a boring name," the ghoul said disapprovingly. "And too hard to remember. Pick a new one."

19348 didn't know what to say. If a ghoul didn't know a human's Tag Number, he would just call a human 'you' or 'thing'.

"Or can pick one for you?" the ghoul asked. From the bed she gave a big smile, showing off her pearly white teeth. "You look so yummy. Your new name could be Yummy."

"Blue," said 19348 quickly. It wasn't that creative of a name, but anything was a hell of a lot better than Yummy.

The ghoul looked taken aback by her sudden assertiveness. "Blue," she echoed back, as if trying the human's new name out. "That works too, I suppose..."

The locks clicked open again, so suddenly that Blue barely had time to reach up and cover her face before the Room was flooded with the Mysterious Light once more, flooding her retinas and temporarily blinding her. She was reminded of a saying that if you kept your eyes open for long enough, they would turn into kakugans.

"Why the fuck's it so dark in here?" asked the newer voice, much harsher and nastier than the female still swinging her legs from the bed.

"Shut the door Arata," said the female ghoul calmly, as if expecting the intrusion. "Don't you know humans aren't used to artificial light? I read it in a book."

"Fuck if I care," said the voice, but luckily he obeyed and Blue was eventually able to make out a young male ghoul standing in front of the doorway, looking to be about her own age. The ghoul on the bed looked much younger.

"Your dad won't be happy your in here," chided the girl, still smiling in that eerie way. "Tatara said he only wants _women_ looking after the human. What's more, you know _you're_ not allowed to be here specifically."

"Come on, I just wanted to see it," said the ghoul named Arata. He quickly strut across the floor with an air of confidence and command, right over to the place Blue was attempting to melt away into the floor. He crouched down beside her, staring coldly into her eyes while she tried her best to stay her trembling body.

After a few seconds of intense staring, Arata turned his nose up in disgust. "Why does it smell so awful, Takatsuki?" he asked, still from his crouched position on the floor. A ghoul had never been so close to Blue's face before, and it made her nervous and uncomfortable. Something wasn't right, and she could feel it.

"I just fed it some human food. The smell will go away when I take the tray back," the ghoul named Takatsuki explained, squirming around on the bed and making it squeak. Blue couldn't see anything past the angry face of Arata just inches from her own however.

"Does it talk?" he asked brusquely, leaning his face even _closer_. The smell of fear on her that he undoubtedly caught a whiff of, made him smirk.

Takatsuki nodded her head. "She told me her name's Blue. Like your hair." An eruption of giggles sparked from the bed that seemed too far away from Blue to even be on the same planet. He was still eyeing her up with a hungry, primordial stare. Ghouls were always dangerous, but if you kept your head down you would be safe from their violence - at least that's how the Handlers normally acted. Arata on the other hand, seemed like a wild card. Blue feared for her life.

Luckily, Takatsuki interjected.

"You've seen live humans before, haven't you Arata? How does this one compare? It's pretty cute, isn't it? I think Tatara will like it."

"Whatever," said Arata after more intense seconds of his predatory gaze, waving her off. He stood up, quick to lose interest in the human before him. "I'm going home."

"Tell Ayato-san I said hi!" she said in a light-hearted, dreamy voice, and as Arata left the room, he flipped her off. Blue couldn't even begin to guess the relationship those two had.

"You know," said Takatsuki, once he had slammed the door behind him and the darkness and silence settled in between them once more. "You can relax when you're around _me_." The ghoul undoubtedly could smell the fear that had not stopped radiating out of Blue. "I want you to be my _best friend_ from now on, so you can talk to me whenever you want." When Blue looked doubtful, she continued.

"Don't worry, I won't eat you." Takatsuki began to laugh - it sounded like bells chiming in the wind. "I couldn't even if I wanted to anyway. You belong to Tatara now."

There was that name again.

"Who's Tatara?" Blue asked hesitantly. At the farms, you could get beaten for talking to a ghoul, or worse. She braced herself, waiting for some sort of punishment, but Takatsuki only laughed again.

"Tatara - you still don't know, hu? Well, I'll tell you two answers then. One is, he's the king. The Great Augustus!" Blue had no idea what she was talking about. "Second is, he _thinks_ he's the king," she said, somewhat more slyly. "But _that's_ between me and you, ok?" She winked. Blue stared back.

Giggling, either out of her own hilarity or Blue's idiocy, she got up and made her way over to the door. "You'll be locked in here from now on, ok Blue? Although, it's more to keep the others out, than to keep you in."

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Tatara won't be coming to visit for a few days," she continued as she swung open the door slowly, leaking in the Light. "If you need anything until then, just ask!"

And with that, the ghoul disappeared through the door.

…..

It was dark in the Room for the next few days. The bed was just too much of a constant reminder for her of the ones used in The Field, so instead the floor was her prefered resting place. Most interestingly, she learned many things over the course of those days. Namely, that Takatsuki was her Caretaker (for whatever reason a high ranking ghoul might want to stoop so low, she did not understand), and luckily she came multiple times a day bringing fresh food, water, the occasional replacement candle, and Gossip. It was like she was Takatsuki's fun new pet or exotic plant with the way she was treated, although Blue didn't mind so much being used. It was nice to have company, and the ghoul would occasionally answer her questions. A lot of the time, Blue forgot she even _was_ a ghoul.

During those next few days, she learned much of Takatsuki's life. Her mother Eto, seemed to be second in command of the whole ghoul organization in Japan, ruling side by side with Tatara, Blue's supposed Captor. Takatsuki hated talking about her father however, and refused to answer any questions about that. More importantly, Blue learned that although Tatara was the supposed leader, Takatsuki seemed to think he was only a puppet ruler, the 'pretty face' of Aogiri, the name of the ghoul organization in Japan that was helping crop up ghoul resistances in other parts of the world as well.

This news however, was too confusing for Blue. In the processing plant and in the farms, it was always assumed that ghouls were the rulers and gods of the universe. How could there be a _ghoul_ _resistance_? Didn't she mean human resistance? As always, Blue tried not to believe the Rumours, especially the political ones.

"My mom doesn't mind ruling from the shadows though. It's always been that way," said Takatsuki to her one day. "She does what needs to be done."

The way that Takatsuki talked about her mother sometimes seemed obsessive and unhealthy, but maybe it was because she could hardly remember her own mother's face, let alone her tag number.

Blue couldn't quite place her feelings with the place, but something was not right. The Room was beginning to feel more and more like a living and breathing entity every day, successful in swallowing her whole and continuing to process the digestion. Everywhere she looked she realized she could not escape the room, and the plain walls began to look like prison bars - the tile floor feeling like hot coals, the bed looking like nails. The Room haunted her dreams - being there even when she closed her eyes. She was clawing at the bolted door trying to break free, scraping her fingernails along the metal until they were cold and bloody, rubbed raw until she could see the bone underneath.

At least the farms consisted of open fields, with sunlight touching and warming her body after nights in the stuffy warehouse. At least the Field was finite, a place you only had to go to for an agonizing ten minutes before you could retreat back into the cozy confines of your own cot. The Room on the other hand, was a pure and inescapable hell.

* * *

 **What's up everyone, thanks for all the reviews. A lot of people seemed to be more interested in the actual _world_ in this fic, so I'll make sure to focus on that more. Also I'm sure this is obvious, but just so everyone is on the same page, Takatsuki and Arata are *not* cannon characters, but children of cannon characters.  
**

 **So anyway, please review! Have a great weekend ~**


	3. The Bed

Takatsuki burst into the Room in a violent fervor. "He's coming! Tatara's here!"

Before Blue knew it, she was being ushered off towards the private bath at the end of the hall.

"Tatara may seem scary," she began, a hint of excitement creeping out from her voice. "But he's... _nice_ once you get to know him. He might be a little older, but he's still a pretty attractive guy, too, so there's that for you."

Blue had no idea what her first encounter with this Tatara would be like. She didn't even know what a ghoul with so much power like him might want with her. Takatsuki for one refused to tell her. " _You'll find out," she had told her, giggling in her usual way. "No don't worry, he's not going to eat you... At least not yet."_

Humans that were bred for food could only have one ending... But then, Blue wondered, _why am I here_? Despite Takatsuki's denials, the feeling that she was simply waiting captive in the Room as the Hunted could not be shaken. Maybe the ghouls were just simply waiting for the proper hour - perhaps until the stars aligned - before her flesh would make do as a suitable sacrifice. _Is this what happens to all humans once led through the doors of fate?_ she entertained. But it couldn't be. Humans who left the farms could only end up at the vet, or in the processing plants. Right? Little did she know that she was so, very wrong.

In the restroom Takatsuki began to strip Blue's clothes off rapidly, until it became apparent that she intended to give her a Bath. Blue gently stepped back from her caretaker, untangling herself from her grasping fingers to finish the job herself. Takatsuki was staring at her again.

"You sure are pretty," she said idly. "I didn't think humans looked like that naked." Blue felt self conscious again, but tried to drown out her worries in the sounds of the water running all over her, and whirlpooling into the drain on the floor. If she closed her eyes, she could almost believe she was drowning.

Takatsuki was always making uncomfortable comments about her appearance like that. At the farms, _everybody_ was dirty and _nobody_ was pretty, and therefore something like compliments were a rarity. If what Takatsuki says could be called compliments. In some odd way, they felt more like threats.

When Blue was clean enough for Takatsuki's liking, she was given a fresh set of clothes and led back into the Room like an offering being led to the slaughter. She forced Blue to sit on the Bed. "You'll wait _here_ for Tatara, ok?" Takatsuki asked, as if there was a choice to be had on the matter.

"Don't worry," she said once more, giving some last words of comfort before leaving her pet in Tatara's hands. "Act like he doesn't scare you." The door clicked shut.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? If Blue wasn't nervous before, she was even more so now as she waited on the Bed, not daring to move a muscle, let alone breath as she awaited her impending doom. What was he like? What was he going to do to her? Was she going to die tonight? She thought something like prayer might be appropriate here but her mind was blank and felt as runny as the sweat dripping off her brow.

She held her breath still, but fortunately didn't have long to stew in her worries, for the locks clicked soon again. In stepped the tallest ghoul Blue had ever seen.

This ghoul named Tatara had an air of royalty around him, suiting for someone of his rank, and was complemented by a commanding gait. He stood in the darkness for a while after the door was closed, most likely meant _not_ to let her eyes adjust to the Lighting, but that was a plus anyway.

This Tatara looked like a predator should in that spot towering above her, carefully examining every inch of his prey before the feast. Blue tried not to shudder as hot bile crept its way up in her throat.

He was tall and muscular. Like Takatsuki said, he was older, maybe in his fifties, but had a very handsome face.

"Did they tell you why you're here, human?" he asked in a deep, imposing sort of way, shattering the torturous silence. His gaze was calm and sure, and everything she was not. Blue shook her head as he took a step closer suddenly. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

Blue tried to get the words out, but it still felt so odd speaking to a ghoul. "The King," she managed to say, and thankfully, he smiled at her response. Or was it a smirk?

"That's right," he said cooly. "Tag Number One. Nine. Three. Four. Eight. Is it?" he said, saying every word calmly and deliberately.

She nodded her head, doing her best to avoiding eye contact as he read her name off the tag around her neck. His eyes were now black and red - a kakugan as she was told, and if aimed towards a human, was always meant threateningly. In a way though, Blue always thought of it as beautiful. It reminded her of red moons against a pitch black sky.

"But that's not what Takatsuki calls you, is it?" his voice was as blank as the walls of the Room, and didn't sound like it held an ounce of curiosity in it.. She wondered why he was talking with her and not ripping into her intestines, but decided to humour him.

"B-blue," she whispered.

"Bubloo? What an odd name."

"Blue," she said once more, this time without stuttering. It would be better to be called Yummy than Bubloo.

"Still odd," he whispered under his breath. He took another step closer. "Tell me something then _Blue_. Are you afraid of ghouls?"

Takatsuki's parting words rang through her mind, " _Act like he doesn't scare you",_ and it gave her a sort of confidence. "No," she lied. Her fingernails were digging into their palms and would soon start to bleed if the situation didn't change soon.

"Good." He smirked, seemingly content with her lie. "I'll tell you why you're here then."

Blue, with a spark of courage, decided to looked attentively at him, but soon blushed away when she found his own face only inches away from hers. She was reminded of a boy she once had a crush on, when she first was brought into the farms. He was taken through the Door of Fate a few months later, though, and she never saw him again.

"You're going to produce for me an heir," Tatara told her.

Blue didn't know what that meant, but didn't really need to for all was made clear soon enough. In an instant he threw her body down, hard, onto the bed, and that was that.

…...

Everywhere a human can go, whether in the farms or at the processing plant, ghouls are thought of like gods. Even Blue herself used to think they were mighty and supreme beings, complete with the power and the control. After all, they have abilities that normal humans don't. They also don't need to eat food like humans do, and don't need to eat it constantly. Instead, the gods of Tokyo feast on human flesh only every once in awhile. The occasional human sacrifice to the gods, in thanksgiving for keeping them alive.

And in the end, what broke the news to Blue, wasn't the fact that the Handlers _need_ a job to work in the first place. It wasn't the memory of Arata's face getting dangerously close to her own in curiosity. It isn't Takatsuki's own willingness to hang out with her. It is, in fact, Tatara - the King of the Ghouls - taking her as his own at that very instant on the Bed that makes her realize that ghouls... aren't really gods at all.

She has never seen a ghoul naked before, but now knows they have certain parts, organs and needs just like any other man. They are only bullies taking advantage of the weak, and it disgusts her. Blue isn't put into a trance, she isn't carried away in pain or in ecstasy. Instead, just like every night she remembers spending in The Field, Blue closes her eyes and relaxes her muscles, counting imaginary stalks of wheat and waits for it to end.

…..

When Tatara was done he stood up, towering over her once more to give her one last smirk.

About the only part that was different than making love with a human, was she now had gushing bite marks all over her neck and shoulders. She was bleeding in the multiple places where she guessed, she was just too Yummy. A weak laugh escaped her lips at her own stupid joke.

Blue didn't even bother trying to cover up when Takatsuki reappeared into the Room minutes later. Hell, multiple ghoul had already seen her naked. She was basically a free show now.

"Look at what he did," Takatsuki tisked with her tongue, overlooking the bloodied and broken body Tatara left behind, as if he had done something equivalent to spilling a glass of water on the carpet. "He left you a mess."

It was at that moment Blue remembered in the pit of her stomach that Takatsuki was a ghoul, and that fact should never. Ever. have been forgotten.

"I guess _I'm_ gonna have to be the one to clean you up, now. Come on," she cooed, helping Blue peel herself away from the sweat and blood-stained sheets.

When they made the cold trek back to the bath, she sat Blue in front of a mirror, still stark naked, and began to treat her wounds. "That damn Tatara," Takatsuki muttered. Her light-hearted voice echoed back from the walls. "He needs to learn to be more gentle with humans."

Blue drowned out all excess noise at that point and instead sat still, unflinchingly still as her caretaker clumsily poured alcohol all over her trembling body. It hurt but she grinned and beared it. Like childbirth.

In the silence and pain was when the King's words finally bubbled their way back to the top of her consciousness. She was chosen by Tatara to give birth, she was told, but to… what? What would a child of their union possibly be? A ghoul? It couldn't be human. Some sort of mix between the two? And why did Tatara want this child?

"There, that should be good for now," said Takatsuki, looking into the absent brown eyes reflecting back at her in the mirror, belonging to her poor pet. The ghoul finished rolling up the last patch of Blue's wounded skin with gauze, which provided her with the only warmth in the place. She stepped back to admire her work and smiled at the supposed success. "You almost look like my mother now." Blue didn't know what that meant.

Blue didn't fully grasp the reason she was chosen for Tatara. What she _did_ know was that if she got pregnant, their child could only be a Monster.

…..

"Where is he?" Blue asked for the thousandth time. She knew she was pestering her caretaker over and over again with the same questions, but it almost seemed as if Takatsuki was in the mood for spilling secrets that day. "Why hasn't Tatara been around in weeks? Doesn't he want a kid? What is this kid for anyway?"

Blue could hardly believe that Tatara was just a family man, wanting a kid for some _emotional bonding_. Tatara just wasn't that kind of ghoul, if any were at all.

"It's because the humans are resisting!" Takatsuki suddenly blurted out, as though unable to hold it in any longer, finally accepting the amount of begging her pet had put into the conversation.

Takatsuki allowed her feet to swing aimlessly from the edge of the Bed as she immediately clasped both hands over her mouth, putting on the show that she was shocked and terrified at her slip. "Oh, but you won't say anything will you?" she asked with another one of her giggles.

 _Resisting_. Blue remembered hearing this beautiful word before, in the shape and form of a Rumor. But could it be true? Takatsuki wasn't known to be the most honest ghoul in Japan. But still…

If humankind was Resisting, and if that was the reason for Tatara's prolonged absences, then it must be safe to assume that it is because the humans are putting up a good fight? Or at least a good enough one to warrant the King making himself known there. Right? What else could it be? This statement opened up a whole other can of worms.

Takatsuki leaned over the Bed to rake a hand through Blue's hair. At the farms the humans had to keep their hair cut short to protect against lice and fleas, but in the Room Blue was allowed to grow it out. It was black and felt coarse, reaching almost to her ears now. If Blue had it her way she would keep it cut short the way it always was, but Takatsuki liked to play with it and decorate it with little barrettes and flowers, and other silly things, and so she wasn't permitted to cut too much off of it.

 _Flowers_. Those were among the few pleasant things that Blue had the chance to encounter while locked away in the Room, and not just the invasive, farm weed types. She actually enjoyed them when they weren't all tangled up in her hair. They had a fresh, sweet scent that reminded her of outside and always made her smile, and her caretaker didn't mind bringing them to her.

" _These are called sakura flowers," Takatsuki said, pointing to the beautifully fragrant pink petals she spread out all over the floor of the Room for her pet to see and be mesmerised by. "And these are spider lilies over here," she said, pointing to the white ones._

" _But Takatsuki, I wonder…" began Blue. "What type of flower is that one?" she pointed at the image of the red flower that always hung around the band on the ghoul's neck._

 _Takatsuki instantly scowled. "This is the most stupid flower of the lot! You won't want to know the name of this one."_

" _But…" Blue said cautiously. Even around her caretaker, she had to tread lightly when the ghoul showed signs of anger. "I think it looks so pretty."_

 _Takatsuki clutched the red flower hanging around her neck, as if trying to hide it from her pet and the world, and gritted her teeth. "It's called a Rose. But no more questions about it or I won't bring you supper." With that, she picked up all the petals scattered around the floor and left._

"What I don't understand," said Takatsuki, breaking her out of her flashback and changing the subject away from the Resistance. "Is why Arata still won't talk to me." Again, Blue got to hear about Takatsuki's one-sided love life. She mostly tuned this information out.

Blue had more questions about Tatara and the Resistance, but knew by now when Takatsuki had enough. Ghouls had limits on their patience, including her caretaker. The ghoul was known to withhold food whenever she got too irritated, sometimes for days on end.

"Arata hasn't talked to me since I let him come into your Room the first night you got here," Takatsuki pouted, giving an accusatory glare at Blue through the mirror, as if the innocent human staring back could have anything to do with it. Blue only smiled back at her captor's reflection. Normally a simple smile was enough for Takatsuki to forgive her. Blue was only a mindless pet to her afterall, and therefore couldn't be blamed for too much. "It's just not fair, you know? Although I heard he likes strong girls. Maybe I'll try and show him how strong I am next time I see him…"

Blue had been living in the Room long enough to know a little bit about ghoul politics. Arata's father, Ayato, was on Tatara's Council alongside Takatsuki's mother Eto. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together. Ayato and Eto would probably never let their children marry each other, and seemed to be in the middle of some odd feud.

According to Takatsuki, Blue was living in a section of Tatara's estate, for whatever that meant. All she knew by it, was that she was to be locked up in that Room day in and day out, with her only exercise being getting up and going across the hall to the bathroom. There were no windows to the outside world, and she began to long for things like the sun and rain, and the feeling of dirt and splinters under her too-clean fingernails. Hell, she even missed doing work in the kitchen and nursery. Anything compared to sitting in a Room with nothing but the walls to stare at all day would have been better.

It was a bleak life, but Takatsuki's words about the human Resistance intrigued her to no end, and provided her with a new thing to dwell on for the next three months of her captivity. A new thing to fantasize about and obsess over. And pretty soon, she began to plot an escape. She didn't know how or when or anything like that, but it was something to fantasize about as well.

Over time, thankfully, Tatara became less forceful with her during his visits. Pretty soon, he ceased taking bites out of her all together. He stopped throwing her around. He stopped trying to threaten her. Blue was forever grateful, but knew he was only being kinder out of necessity, not out of affection. If she was pregnant, he didn't want to put added stress on her. In the farms, you even had leave of work for the last trimester.

Tatara also began to visit more regularly which Blue didn't mind either, especially with his shift in attitude. Things got boring when Takatsuki was the only one that visited her, so it was nice to have someone else there, even though he didn't like to talk. At all.

It was kind of nice to enjoy someone else's company without mindless chatter though. Sometimes, after he was done he would linger - on top of her still, or on the edge of the bed. She wouldn't dare ask him questions or try to provoke anything out of him, and he seemed not to mind whenever she stared at him. She figured as King, he was used to having people constantly looking at him, but was grateful to have some peace and quiet.

…...

By the end of her third month in the Room, she knew she was pregnant.


	4. The Vet

There wasn't any vet visits, nor did she take any tests, but Blue knew deep within her heart that she was pregnant. After so many kids, she could just sort of tell when she was pregnant again.

Although it was odd to know she was carrying Tatara's child inside of her -a monster- it didn't really feel different from carrying any other child. For a few days she entertained the idea of stabbing herself in the abdomen. To carve out the monster-child hidden within her womb. Sometimes, when women at the farms knew it was their last year, they did just that to their swollen bellies, as a sort of 'fuck you' to the ghouls waiting to feast on both mother and child. Of course, the only thing it accomplished was putting the two out of their misery. Nobody was a martyr at the farms.

Blue wasn't able to carry out her twisted seppuku however, because Takatsuki soon realized something was up. Ghouls, or at least her caretaker, had a knack for smelling suspicion and secrets in the air.

"You look different today Blue-chan," she said to her one morning, showing off her brilliant pearly whites. "Do you have a secret you aren't telling me?"

Damn it. There was no use lying to these ghouls, Blue figured.

"I think I might... be pregnant," she said quietly. Takatsuki's jaw dropped in a sort of horrific joy before she squealed in excitement. Instantly, the green-haired ghoul ran off out the door, yelling something about calling the vet.

What stuck out the most in this whole scene however, was the image of the door being left wide open. Ajar and unbolted. Mysterious Light poured into the Room and Blue rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Takatsuki's story about the forbidden fruit rang through her ears, for whatever that meant.

Unable to drown the embers of her curiousity, Blue slowly grasped the metal door in her fragile hands and peeked her head out into the empty hallway. To the left, the familiar bathroom area. To the right, Salvation. That was somewhere in the forbidden fruit story, wasn't it?

Blue began to sweat and her heart beat wildly in her chest as she approached the hall Door (Door of Fate?) to find it unbolted as well. Since her arrival, she only had the pleasure of glancing at it from the inside, using it as some sort of gateway for her fantasies about escape. Again she peaked out, one eye at a time.

Ahead of her appeared to be large corridor filled with more Mysterious Light, although Blue was used to that by now. Other than the Light that could not be escaped, the place seemed deserted.

She made her way down one end of the empty hall, bare feet sticking to the cold floor with every step. Lining the walls were pictures of what appeared to be ghouls in horrible masks, smiling their sickly smiles. Taunting her. Egging her on.

The hall reared left and she peaked down it, surprised to find a deliberately cut square hole in the side of the building, with real Sunlight pouring out onto the floor. Salvation.

Her feet were wobbly underneath her, but she forcibly picked up the pace of her stride until she was at a full run towards the hole, towards Salvation. Just like her exit from the farms three months ago, she vowed she would run and run until she couldn't anymore. Run towards the sun, and never look back. After all, she knew where her parents were right now, and that would inevitably be her Fate too, if she stayed behind.

Once at the edge of the hall, she was shocked to find some sort of hard, translucent material covering over the hole. She pressed her thin hands on it and pushed hard, but it didn't budge. Tightening her hands into balled fist, she began to furiously pound on the glass.

"Move!" she screamed at the barrier hysterically as if it could understand her, still pounding. "Don't get in my way!"

Immediately something collided with her torso, and her face hit the wooden floorboards at her feet. She was forcibly turned over onto her back by two, violent hands, and pinned to the cold ground.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed into the ghoul's face. It was Arata. "You're in my way! I need to make it towards Salvation!" Blue began to cry uncontrollably, but went limp. It was no use trying to win a strength contest against a ghoul, and any efforts would end up hurting her more in the end.

Arata looked down at her with a smirk. "You're fucking nuts." He kept his one hand clamped tightly against her neck, as his face lowered just until his lips grazed against her throat. A primal growl escaped from the pit of his stomach.

Blue cried out in pain when his teeth tore their way into her flesh there. Everything went red. But... how could it end like this when she was so close to Salvation?

And then, as if it were a sudden gust of wind, Arata was picked up off of her and thrusted against the window until it shattered. Or was it real wind?

Blue could feel the warm rush of outside air push its way in from the hole in the wall and brush against her hair and cheeks as particles of glass scattered around her. It glittered about in the air like snow, before coming down hard and landing all over her. It had been too long since she last saw the outside world, even just a piece of it. It smelled like dirt and sewer, but it was still welcomed.

"Stupid Arata-kun," said the giggling voice of Takatsuki from one end of the hall. "You can't eat it. It's not yours!"

Blue opened her eyes to find her caretaker's kagune looming dangerously over her head, pinning Arata against the wall. In a sudden movement, Takatsuki thrashed him against the adjacent wall, knocking pictures down and shattering more glass.

Bricks sprayed out everywhere from the wall, shards narrowly missing her face, and clopped against the floor boards. "Fucking girl!" he spat, being smashed into the walls over and over again. "You're going to kill me! Stop!"

At Aratas warning Takatsuki's kagune retracted, dropping him to the ground with a thud. The sound of bells laughing was the last thing Blue remembered before everything went black.

…..

"Listen, just don't say anything about it, alright?" said a gruff voice from above Blue. She stirred awake to the sound of people arguing. "Dad?" she whispered to the bright room filled with Light. Her own voice sounded raspy from disuse. "Where are you? Dad?" She was so happy she was finally dead, about to meet her family again for the first time in years, that she cried uncontrollably when she heard familiar, deadly voices.

"You're awake Blue-chan!" said the voice unmistakably belonging to Takatsuki.

"Don't ignore me!" Said the gruff voice again. "Do we have a deal or not?"

Blue's eyes parted slightly, taking in the harshness of the Lights, and through the haze she noticed a man standing tall who she had never met before. Although the resemblance was enough to give it away.

"I don't know," responded Takatsuki, in the voice she uses when she's trying to get something she wants. "It'll be hard to cover up. Especially…. since our family's don't have such good relations to begin with."

The man reached over Blue's bed to grab onto Takatsuki's shoulders tightly. It scared her enough to wake her up completely, but she didn't dare adjust herself on the bed. The strange man was no doubt related to Arata, and she realized it must be his father, Ayato.

"Don't threaten me, you scum! I'll... tell him you let the human escape on purpose! How else could it have gotten out? It's too suspicious to be seen as a careless move."

It was a confusing enough conversation to have woken up right in the middle of. Were they talking about her?

Takatsuki threw her head back and laughed in his grasp, obviously not taking the man's intimidation attempts seriously. "Do you really think he'd believe you? Don't make me laugh. Tatara might not like me, but he likes you less. If you tell Tatara about my... slip up... it still won't account for how Arata got there in the first place. Or are we planning on telling him why your son was wandering around Tatara's Palace?"

At this, Ayato let Takatsuki go, the anger from his cheeks whitening with some sort of realization. What did Takatsuki mean by 'slip up'? The ghoul said it so eerily, as if it wasn't a 'slip up' at all.

"Wait a minute. What I actually think happened," said Takatsuki, watching the man's disturbed countenance with a sadistic joy. "Was that I did lock the doors. That Arata... was lying in wait, and tried to take Pet-chan away while I wasn't there monitoring. Luckily I came just in time to stop him from escaping out the window with her.

The man gritted his teeth. "Shitty brat. You're just like your mother."

Takatsuki began to laugh again, obviously reveling in the compliment. "But you know I would never do that to poor Arata! I'm afraid that I love your son too dearly to leave him to Tatara's wrath." There was a certain whimsical tone to her voice that began to scare Blue, leaving a poisonous feeling in the pit of her stomach. Or maybe it was just that thing growing inside of her. She wondered if it had survived Arata's blow. He did end up colliding right into her stomach.

The Room she was currently caged in was a crisp white color that could never be found on the farms. There were loud beeping boxes with cords connecting them to her arms and chest. It reminded her of the vet on the farms, but more clean.

"But... what you are going to say," began Arata's father, Ayato, nodding his head. He appeared to have the look of a man that was just defeated.

"What I'm going to say instead," Takatsuki cut in. "Is that while we were transporting poor Pet-chan to the vet, one of the servants went wild with its soft scent, and I had to restrain her. The servant was reprimanded and I took care of her." She lolled her head on one side to face Blue. "That's what happened. Isn't it Blue-chan? That scary servant won't hurt you again."

In the bed Blue nodded her head as much as the gaping neck wound would allow. It was deeper than any of the chunks Tatara had ever taken out of her.

"Then it's settled!" she said, shaking herself free from Ayato's grasp. "I'm glad you came to visit Mrs. Kirishima-san. Please tell Arata-kun I said hello, and send my regards to Ayato... as we all know Tatara banned men from visiting our dear Pet-chan!" Takatsuki smiled gravely, not breaking eye contact with the man who did not like being addressed by his wife's title.

What felt like several minutes passed by of the harsh staring contest between the two, but finally Ayato turned on his heel for the door, swearing under his breath at her. When the door slammed shut, it felt as though a throbbing pain had been lifted from Blue's chest.

"Maybe the reason Arata won't talk to you," Blue offered after a few moments of silence, them both staring at the door where Ayato just left. "Is because you treat his dad like that." It was a joke, and luckily Takatsuki took it as such. Blue came to realize that the ghoul didn't mind being teased as long as it was done so in a witty manner.

"Maybe you should be worried more about healing your fragile body than about the personal affairs of a ghoul," she said, feigning indignity. "We'll have to hose you down about a billion times to get Arata's sent off of you…. Damn that ghoul. Sometimes I forget why I'm in love with him."

And that was that.

When the vet came in, an ancient looking man with grey hair and aged features, he remade the announcement now that she was awake, that the baby was just fine. The human should get more exercise. Get a more varied diet. Maybe some sunlight.

"I'll go over everything Dr. Kanou said with Tatara," said Takatsuki as they were waiting to be discharged from the hospital. "I'm sure he'll have a fence built for you in the yard so you can run around in it to get your sunlight and exercise." The way the ghoul said it made Blue feel like a pet even more.

As they approached the outside, they were greeted by a number of women servants Blue had never met before, and she was reminded about the fact that Tatara only wanted female ghouls to take care of her. So what did that make Dr. Kanou?

However, she wasn't paying too much attention to anything anymore, because the Sunlight was all that filled her gaze. She didn't know where they were or how they got there, but it was beautiful, more fresh and more alive than the air that was at Tatara's Palace. It was a pity she missed the sight coming into the hospital.

Her momentary illusion of freedom was cut short however, when iron chains were tightly clasped onto her wrists.

"These can't be the most fun to wear," explained Takatsuki apologetically. "But I can't have you running off again!" Blue nodded as she was scolded like a child. "Plus, humans can't be out in public without restraints. It's for your own safety too." Takatsuki hastily pushed a hooded robe onto her pet's delicate frame.

Blue had a ton of questions to add to her list. Like why Arata was there in Tatara's Palace that day, and why that vet seemed so eerie? And what was it that Takatsuki and Ayato were scheming? The world of ghouls was growing shrouded in mystery everyday, but for now Blue was satisfied to bath in the Sunlight.

…..

Despite the fresh air of Tokyo however, the walk home was relatively horrifying. She kept receiving looks from the pedestrian ghouls - looks ranging from jealousy to hunger, from amusement to pity.

"Just keep your head down and don't make any sudden movements," whispered Takatsuki in her ear. That must be easy for a high-class ghoul to say. Blue noted that even the servants were beginning to feel uneasy. Takatsuki must really be showing off, because most ghouls in the area didn't travel about with possies of maids.

Just as their group was about to round the corner, Blue saw something that made her gasp and jump backwards - or as far as the handcuffs on her wrists would allow her to go.

"Don't make any sudden movements," she remembered Takatsuki saying, but she couldn't help it. Staring right in front of her were about six humans - and she could tell they were humans by their features.

They were standing all in a row in the window of some building, all shapes and sizes, wearing nothing more than loincloths and handcuffs chaining them to posts, keeping them from running away. Blue couldn't read the signs to tell what kind of shop this was, but she could tell by context clues that the -live- humans in the window were for sale.

"Ta… Taka…!.. Takat-"

"Get away from there Pet-chan," said Takatsuki, tugging on the leash, forcing her hands away from the glass. "I don't want those humans in heat from seeing you."

"Takatsuki! What is this place? Please don't tell me that -"

The ghoul spun around on her heel, long green hair spinning with her rhythmically. "Those are humans for sale. Ghouls can buy humans from the processing plants dead, or alive. You can get humans from other places too though. Humans bred for fighting, for serving tea, for gardening. Pretty much any kind of human can be bought or sold."

Blue's worldview slowly began to shatter around her as she realized the actual complexity of the Tokyo she was living in. She glanced up at the dead expressions in the eyes of the human slaves standing in front of her, through the glass window, wondering what their lives have been like. If they suffered as she had. Probably more.

"And I'm a human bought from the farms. To be an h-heir to Tatara's children," she said, thinking out loud and using the term the king had once used to explain the situation to her. Takatsuki nodded her head.

"And you're doing a great job so far with that," she responded, smiling eerily.

"Takatsuki. Please tell me something."

The ghoul widened her eyes towards her pet who was still looking at the humans in the window.

"What is this baby inside of me?"

A devilish smirk.

"Don't worry about that just yet. For now, let's get away from here and go back home, before the owner comes out and yells at me for dancing my pet in front of her store.


	5. The Poison

Blue stared horrified into the red streaked platter in front of her.

"I don't want it," she said quietly, not making eye contact.

"What are you talking about?" Takatsuki was in a bad mood today.

"I don't want it," she repeated, refusing to look at the lumpy mess given to her to eat as food. It reminded her of the red stained grass at the farms once, when a man accidentally got stuck in a piece of machinery as it turned on.

Takatsuki was tapping her foot hard on the ground, as if there was something underneath the floorboards she wanted dead. "You have to eat it Blue-chan. Vet's orders."

Blue sniffed the plate, wondering what it could be, knowing she could eat it at her own pace, or would soon be force fed by her green-haired caretaker. Slowly, Blue collected a spoonful of the toxic smelling 'food', and led it up to her lips. "It's cold," she remarked.

"Well you can't cook it. You don't get the same amount of nutrients that way."

Blue froze. Uncooked? Nutrients?

"What is it?" she asked nervously. The spoon fell back down into a noisy clatter in the bowl, as she realized that really, no answer would be all that satisfying.

Takatsuki only smiled viciously. "Meat. Now eat it."

A nauseating feeling began to creep into Blue's stomach, and it wasn't the monster burrowing in there. Never once had she ever eaten meat. Her parents told her stories of it when she still lived at the processing plant, but besides birds and the occasional cat or rabbit, she never saw any animals growing up. There was a Rumour that a certain farm allowed its humans to go fishing, but that was only a Rumour.

"Hurry up and eat it already. I have a lot to do today." A frown replaced the ever-watchful smirk on the ghoul's face, and again resumed the foot tapping.

Not wishing to push her caretaker over the edge, Blue held her breath as she downed a spoonful. And It was awful.

The stuff was soft and chewy, and felt slimy as it slipped down her throat. The texture could have been withstood had it not been for the flavor. Bitterness and salt made her thirsty. It felt like eating poison.

Was she actually eating... people? This was the only thought that really gave her pause. Knowing there was no way to get out of the situation however (due to the ever watchful eye of a certain someone), made Blue close her eyes and squeeze down the rest as quickly as possible. Blue could feel Takatsuki laughing eerily behind her, but she tried to drown out the noise as she finished her bowl. After all, she was told to never waste any food.

* * *

Nausea and vomiting were things that went hand in hand with pregnancy for Blue, but never to this extent. It felt as if she was puking up her insides, and looked like it too. Or maybe it was just the 'meat' she was forced to consume earlier.

"Oh, you poor thing," Takatsuki said as she entered into the room, seeing the mess her pet had made. Every word felt dripping with poison and every movement laced with an ulterior motive. But Blue had greater worries on her mind.

"Let's get you cleaned up."

* * *

"I don't understand…"

"There, there…"

"It's never been like this before."

In all of Blue's several pregnancies, she had never had such a strong reaction. For the last few days - a week? - Blue had been bed-ridden with a terrible illness. One that made her feverish and made her stomach churn.

"There, there… It'll pass…"

"Maybe," Blue began, trying to sit up and wave Takatsuki's hand away that had found a place at stroking her hair. "Maybe this is what it means to carry a… ghoul's child."

"You won't be in pain for very much longer, don't worry…"

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Your fence outside is almost ready by the way. I've made... personal arrangements with the gardener. When you get to play outside for the first time, remember me…"

Everything Takatsuki was saying lately was failing to register, although Blue had little time to think about it, because the heavy, illness-induced sleep soon overtook her.

* * *

"Blue! Get the fuck out of bed already, or I'll drag you! Tatara is coming!"

What was happening?

Pretty soon Blue felt her arm being tugged nearly out of it's socket, and the door was flying open as if it were made of something other than the weighted iron it was actually made of.

As she was being led into the bathrooms, her grogginess attempted to leave her, but was trapped in by the fever. She took a disoriented look up into her caretaker's face, to see the sinister smile that seemed to find its home there lately, replaced by a nervous fear of sorts.

"Damn that Tatara!" said Takatsuki as she began to furiously scrub her pet's skin underneath the hot waters, despite Blue's feeble protests. "He thinks he can just show up here early!"

"Just tell him I'm sick," said Blue. She was trying to make sense of all that was happening, but at the same time, mostly just trying to keep her head up straight, so she didn't have to choke on the hot water beating down on her from the shower head.

"It doesn't matter what I tell him!" Takatsuki shrieked. For the first time, Blue saw her uncomposed, and it frightened her. "It doesn't matter! He'll still smell you as soon as he walks into the building! I should have washed the carpet out better! Damn that Tatara!"

Blue was too confused to understand what was going on. What smell? Surely she wasn't that repulsive.

"Just… Just wait here!" she yelled, running nervously towards the door. "Don't leave from under the water!"

Blue tried to follow orders as best she could, but pretty soon the steam from the waters was just too much for her feverish body, and she had to step out. How long has it been already? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes?

A quick check confirmed that the door was indeed locked.

As soon as she turned back to go pretend like she was in the shower the whole time, the locks clicked and the door swung open, revealing a not so happy looking Tatara.

For some odd reason, Blue made to grab a towel to cover herself, but it was too late - Tatara was faster - and he soon had her tightly by the arm. For the second time that day she felt as if it was about to burst the socket.

"You were sick."

Blue nodded her head to his statement made so matter-of-factly. What was the big deal already? Were ghoul's immune to disease?

"What did you eat?"

Straightening up her spine as if in some attempt to match Tatara's height, she whispered the unfamiliar word of, "Meat."

It felt as if this should be just the beginning of her interrogation, but Tatara seemed to have found what he was looking for.

"You smell awful. Take a bath."

And pretty soon, she was left alone in the bath, yet again.

Now that the sight of Tatara had fully awoken Blue to her senses, she wracked her brain for answers. What happened? Could it be that…

The intense stomach cramps. The fever. The aches and pains. Blue had long since figured that she might have had a miscarriage, but now she wondered if that was what the ghouls could smell? She honestly didn't know.

And nobody came back to inform her of anything.

Instead, Blue was left alone in the bathroom all night. And through the next morning. In fact, it wasn't until later that evening that someone finally came to check on her, and it wasn't a familiar face.

"Number 19348?" called the ghoul into the bathroom.

From her stall, Blue replied back that she was there. It was odd, but she was starting to feel better already. Maybe all she needed was Tatara to come and frighten it out of her. He certainly frightened something out of her.

"Please come with me, I am assigned to take you to the vet."

"There's no need," Blue explained, slowly making her way out of the bathroom stall she found a home in, leaning on the railing for support. "I'm already feeling better already."

"That may be so, but you must come anyway, Tatara insists. He wants to make sure all leftover traces of poison are gone from your system, and haven't done any permanent damage to your internal organs."

Poison? Was I poisoned?

And then Blue understood everything.

And she laughed.


	6. The Outside

" _Maybe this isn't the end," Blue finds herself saying to Dr. Kanou. "Maybe you can help me Escape."_

 _Dr. Kanou continues to stand off to the side, reading her charts as if he can't hear her, or they don't speak the same language._

" _You can leave the window open. Maybe… put me in one of those bags and send me to a field, far, far away…" she doesn't know what she's saying anymore at this point. Her brain is foggy._

 _The ancient man in front of her isn't paying her murmurings any mind. Her arms are all connected with wires and tubes and she doesn't know what's going on. But that's nothing new. What isn't new is the feeling of something churning and scraping around in her insides. Like the monster was back and eating its way out._

" _You're different, I can tell," she whispers to him, lying paralyzed in the bed. "You aren't a ghoul, right? You can live without being terrorized every day. Take me with you. Please. I'll be... your slave…"_

 _From behind his white medical mask dusted with red, Dr. Kanou lifts the wrinkled folds in front of his face, and it almost looks like a twisted smile. "Just go to sleep," he says soothingly. "The surgery is almost over."_

 _Blue wonders what will happen to herself if the vet says she can no longer have children. Perhaps Tatara would take pity on her and make the end as quick and as painless as possible. Perhaps Tatara was touched by their intimacy as much as she was, and he'll even wait until she is dead before he starts tearing into her flesh and chewing on her bones. But most likely, that's just wishful thinking. It's more than likely that the King of the Ghouls only sees her as nothing more than what she is: a pawn. A slightly appetizing snack that has to wait to be eaten until its usefulness has expired._

As soon as Blue floated back to real consciousness, Kanou, deciding to ignore her outburst in the middle of the surgery, decided to fill her in on her condition. That they managed to catch the poison in time before any severe damage was done to her reproductive organs, even though it nearly failed her liver. That they needed to do Surgery for internal rupture. He mentioned these things if only to humor her.

As expected, Blue didn't know what any of those things meant at all. Perhaps they did speak a different language? One thing that she did understand however, was the long, fresh scar down her abdomen. Damn. Did they take out any of her insides?

Either way, she was still alive and breathing. She could just add her newest scar to the many she already had upon her body.

Takatsuki escaped.

At least that's what she was told. Not by her stupid new mute caretaker, but by Tatara himself. Or that's at least what she had inferred from their shady conversation.

Back at the Palace, Blue questioned the new caretaker mercilessly, who now stood around her 24/7. If not standing silently in the corner of the Room like a statue, then the strict woman could be found just outside the door in the hallway. This new ghoul had greater patience than Takatsuki and was less scary than Tatara, and that coupled with the multiple near death experiences Blue had already experienced, made the scrawny human no longer care about being shy or timid around ghouls.

Sometimes, Blue wondered if the new caretaker was even a ghoul at all, or just a human slave, and debated testing out her theory every so often. Perhaps one day she could stab herself in the wrist with the meal fork, and spray some blood in her face to see what happened - if any kakugan appeared. But Blue was only curious, not suicidal.

Then, when not but a week had past after returning home from the vet, her caretaker came in one morning to deliver the breakfast, and spoke to Blue for the very first time.

"The gardener has finalized the preparations and the fence has finished being built for you. I'll be able to escort you to the yard as soon as you are done with your meal."

Blue instantly dropped the fork from the breakfast tray, all thoughts of stabbing herself out the door. "No. I'll go now," she said, standing up hastily. Her caretaker's voice was deeper than she expected. Raspier too.

"Eat," was the only reply given, and she positioned her body in front of the door in such a way, that made Blue aware that if she did not in fact 'eat', there would be no going outside at all. The caretaker was a woman of few words, who only used them when they were most needed, apparently.

But Blue hadn't seen the sunlight in a week.

"I'll eat outside then."

The lone human was becoming reckless. Her healthy fear of ghouls was slowly withering away, and now she's gone so far as to demand things of them.

By some miracle however, the caretaker seems to accept this ultimatum.

Blue had to keep herself from sprinting down the staircase towards her Freedom. Her body was small and had grown frail from her months in captivity. Nearly all of her bones could be counted through her pale skin, and the shirt given to her hung loosely on her frame, giving her the appearance even more so of a skeleton.

Blue shook as she walked down each step, rattling the contents around on the breakfast tray she was so desperately trying to keep from spilling over. Each step took the utmost effort, and strained her joints and atrophied muscles. It was a blessing when her caretaker finally was annoyed enough by the sound to take the tray from her, allowing Blue full use of the guard rails.

And outside was pure heaven, if there was such a thing.

As soon as the heavily bolted gate was lifted high enough for Blue to squirm her way through, she ran towards her Salvation - only to collapse not seconds afterwards due to fatigue.

The sun beating down on her face was enough, however, for her mind to enter its own world. She stayed like that, in the warm, grassy dirt for who knows how long before her caretaker finally prodded her with a foot and set the tray of awfully bland-tasting food down next to her.

"Eat," the middle aged woman commanded once more, not making eye contact.

"You don't know how much I've dreamed about this," Blue said, not caring if her caretaker was paying attention to her words or not. Nobody else did. "If you _knew_ , you wouldn't force me to eat that shit."

"Eat," said her caretaker like a broken record, this time kicking up a little dirt to her face with her boot.

Blue sat up straight, but kept her hands in the dirt, fingers laced through the grass. "Only if we stay out here all day then."

Her caretaker gave no response, but instead whirled around towards the door to sit on the stoop, in the shade. Blue supposed this was an acceptance of terms, so she rolled back over onto her stomach and began to eat, all the while looking around her new cage.

It was a small plot of land compared to the fields in the Farms, but much larger than the Room she was being held captive in now. Along the wall of the Palace was a colorful flower garden, but the rest was mostly open space.

The whole yard area was completely enclosed by some strange fence-like structure, that allowed nearly no visibility beyond it. It was more like a really high defensive barricade than a fence actually. But was it to keep her in or to keep others out?

Either way, Blue didn't worry too much over it. Her enclosure was large enough to allow for exercise and sunlight, and she would have to be satisfied with that.

After breakfast, Blue decided to check out the fence more. Something about it seemed off, but she couldn't quite place what it was. Slowly she reached out a hand to touch the strange barrier, and was surprised to find it warm. Soft, too.

When her hand began sinking into the material, she instinctively retracted her hand and took a step back. Touching that wall was like touching a person. But how could it be? From the outside at least, it looked immovable - like stone.

 _What is it made out of?_

The caretaker left her spot in the shade and made haste across the yard, closing the distance between them quickly. "What are you doing over here?"

"Who could make something like this?" asked Blue, holding her contaminated arm protectively and still staring at the place her hand print was slowly disappearing from.

Blue was not permitted to closely inspect the wall anymore after that, and received no answer.

Instead, Blue decided to focus her attentions on the garden next. It was refreshing to be around, and was filled with all sorts of radiant colors, including all the flowers Takatsuki had shown her before, and even some new ones.

Since it stunk so bad outside, smelling like a nauseating mixture of gas and chemicals and sewage, the natural perfume of the flowers helped her to temporarily forget where she was. But only when she was really up close, with her cheeks touching the gentle softness of the petals, were all bad thoughts and smells gone. It a surprising miracle that such beauty could be grown and _thrive_ in the midst of such a horrible place.

It was also kind of surprising to find a small plot in the garden reserved for Roses.

" _Your fence outside is almost ready by the way. I've made... personal arrangements with the gardener. When you get to play outside for the first time, remember me…"_

Takatsuki's words echoed on in her head, interrupting fairy tale dreams about flowers and sunshine.

"Hey you," Blue called to her caretaker, knee deep in the dirt, and pants mostly covered in soil by now after romping around in the garden for hours. Her caretaker, who was leaning up against the fence cooly just a few feet away, looked over but made no reply.

"I don't know your name, and that's ok, you don't have to tell me. But maybe you can tell me a little bit about Takatsuki. I've had a lot of time to think things over... When you sit around in a Room all day your mind tends to wander, you know? But maybe you know what I'm talking about?"

No response signalled Blue to keep going. Or something like that.

"I have some theories about what happened, and maybe you can tell me if I'm right or not?"

No response.

"Maybe just blink once for yes, twice for no?"

The caretaker shut her eyes at this point, and kept them shut tight, as if wishing she were someplace else, with a different job.

"Maybe you can just stand there all day then," Blue muttered, but decided to keep talking. She was so used to having Takatsuki dominating the conversations, that it was refreshing to be able to talk about what she was actually thinking and feeling with someone else, even if that person didn't care to listen to it.

"It was Takatsuki who poisoned me, right? I think I can say that with certainty. Tatara questioned me as soon as I got back from the vet, to see if I knew anything about what was going on. He didn't flat out tell me, but I could guess that he was looking for her - for Takatsuki. She must have Escaped somehow, right?"

Blue made her way out of the flower garden and sat down on the grass to continue their one-sided conversation. "I don't think she wanted to kill me though… Maybe it's just wishful thinking too but… I think she just wanted to kill Tatara's baby.

"A few weeks prior, there was an incident with a ghoul named Arata. At first I just thought he was trying to eat me, but then I realized that he was probably just trying to kill Tatara's baby. He punched me first, right in the stomach before he…"

She ran a hand over the spot on her neck where his teeth had sunk in, and glanced over towards the wall, expecting her caretaker to be deeply enveloped in the story by now, but instead found her to be standing there just as still as before, eyes still closed.

"I think Takatsuki's plan with the poison would have worked, right? She could have just blamed it on the cook, like she blamed Arata's attempt on one of the other servants. But Tatara came home early, and that's when it fell apart, right? Tatara would have wondered why Takatsuki didn't smell the poison and taken me to the vet right away if she had just blamed it on the cook…"

She rolled over onto her stomach in the grass, hot face pressed against the cool dirt. The caretaker, sensing the end of the story, opened up her eyes again and eyed up her charge suspiciously, without blinking. Could it be she was actually listening to her theories?

Just when Blue was wondering what she could be thinking, the caretaker parted her lips ever so slightly and said, "Lunch should be ready. I'll go bring it to you, so wait here."

It was stupid to think that the new caretaker would suddenly start taking an interest in her after she had been trying so hard for the past week with no success. This new one was nothing like Takatsuki, who would fawn all over anything Blue said or did immediately.

And then the gates creaked open once more, a few minutes later.

"I'm not hungry, so don't bother trying to make me eat that cardboard," she said, rolling around to face the entrance, but was surprised to find someone standing there she had never met before.

It was another middle aged woman, with sleek black hair tied up in a bun, and she was wearing some sort of brown overalls. The pail of tools in her hand told Blue that this must be the gardener.

Instead of paying attention to Blue's awkward comment, the gardener shuffled over to the opposite end of the flower beds, and began the work of watering them.

"Hello! My name is Blue - er, 19348. You're the gardener right?" she asked stupidly, crawling off the ground and brushing the soil from her stained pants. The gardener continued on her work, not seeming to hear Blue.

But she remembered Takatsuki's words:

" _Ghouls can buy humans from the processing plants, dead or alive. You can get humans from other places too though. Humans bred for fighting, for serving tea, for gardening. Pretty much any kind of human can be bought or sold."_

"You-you're the gardener right?" Blue asked again, excitedly walking forward. Perhaps there was a chance this woman wasn't actually a ghoul, but really just a slave like her. "You must know Takatsuki then. She said she made special arrangements with-"

And then suddenly Blue was flying backwards, and she landed with a hard thud against the grass, a few feet away from the garden, scraping her elbows against the dry earth. Her paper thin, and slightly sunburnt skin immediately tore open there, in jagged ridges all across her forearms.

There was kagune above her, and with one last look towards the sun now positioned in the middle of the sky, said her goodbyes.

But the kagune only hovered above her, stationary, as if on pause.

She lifted herself up gently on her bloodied elbows enough to see her caretaker standing behind her, tray of lunch food splattered across the yard. Both servants had their kagune out and in position, staring threateningly into one another's black eyes, as if daring the other to make the first move.

"I bet you think you're hot shit now," said the gardener snidely, watering can abandoned and spilled onto the grass as well. "I bet you think Tatara-sama favors you or something."

"Shut up," the caretaker responded. "You're worthless."

"At least I'm not standing around, wiping that human's ass all day."

Her caretaker, somehow looking much more menacing in her suit and tie combo, only smirked. "Get out of here before I kill you."

To Blue's relief, the gardener retracted her kagune and stormed off through the gates, muttering profanities before snatching up her supplies. But whether due to being thrown in the air, or exhaustion, the lights went out in Blue's head and she fainted on the lawn.

* * *

When Blue awoke again, she was lying in the Bed. As if sensing what her next reaction would be, the caretaker's hand materialized in front of her chest to push her down, making sure she didn't get up.

"Let me go, I want to go outside."

"No. You're bleeding and you haven't eaten since breakfast."

Blue looked around to get her bearings. It was so difficult to tell what time of day it was when there were no windows, but she could usually guess by the type of meal she received. On her desk was sitting 'dinner'. Cold by now.

She tried to sit up again, only to realize her arms could barely hold her up without stinging. They were wrapped in fresh bandages, but she could tell she must have hurt herself bad from that fall.

"What's going to happen to that gardener?" Blue wasn't expecting a response, and didn't get one.

"If you're going to force me to lay in this stupid Bed, then you can at least tell me a story. Takatsuki liked telling me stories."

Nothing.

"Your hair looks stupid. You should get a haircut."

After a few more demands and insults, Blue gave up and rolled over onto her side, noting how sore the skin on her neck was. She was probably extremely sunburnt there.

And then finally, Blue thought of a good way to get a reaction.

"If you don't give me what I want, I'll tell Tatara you pushed me down."

It was the stupidest, most child-like threat she could think of, and immediately regretted it as soon as she said it. She didn't even know if it would work, or if Tatara even cared if the servants pushed her around. What was her worth in a place like this?

"What is it that you want, human?" asked her caretaker, finally provoked into say something back.

But instead of being excited about the fact that her blackmail had worked, Blue felt saddened by those words. What _was_ it that she actually wanted?

In some odd way, she wished she was back at the farms. Back with the stupid people she knew there. She wondered how Pink and her mate was, and if they ever thought of her. Or if they were dead yet.

"I want to grow some vegetables in the garden," said Blue, making a decision. It would be something productive - something she could work on. Not to mention she'd be able to eat it when she was done. But mostly it would help build up and keep her strength. She would need that for when she Escaped as well.

* * *

Sweat was dripping down her back, rolling off her forehead, and no matter how many times she attempted to wipe it from her face, she'd be drenched again in a matter of seconds. She was panting heavily, moans escaping her lips every so often when she would try to speed up the pace. Her small arms and legs worked their hardest trying to keep her upright, but after a while, Blue had to reach down and pull her shirt off, tossing it clumsily to the side. It was only getting in the way at this point anyway.

Of course, she would get sunburnt on her back and stomach, but it would be easier to hide there.

Starting a large vegetable garden wasn't an easy task.

Blue had to wait one whole week before her bright red lobster-like skin was of an acceptable shade before being permitted to go outside again by her caretaker. But at least she was given her own gardening supplies - a term in the agreement between her and the caretaker.

Maybe it was Takatsuki figuring that Blue would want her own plot of land for gardening in the future, but there was actually an empty plot of land ready for cultivating at the very end of the flower garden. Even if it was just a coincidence, it was a blessing.

Towards midday, after forcing herself to choke down another disgusting lunch, the gate creaked open, and out stepped the gardener. Instinctively, Blue grabbed her shirt to cover up and went over to stand by her caretaker resting in the shade of the fence, like a shy little kid running towards an adult at the first sign of danger.

She was about to wake up the sleeping caretaker when she noticed that the gardener was actually a different woman from yesterday. This new gardener was much younger, perhaps around Blue's age even, if not younger.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she approached.

"I'm sorry if my caretaker hired you for this work," Blue said, attempting to sound like an authority. "I'll be taking over the gardening from now on though."

"Oh, you must be Tatara's human! Takatsuki always called you Blue-chan, that's your name right? I'm Riko! You're such a cute little thing! Too skinny though for my tastes."

The enthusiasm of the gardener was overbearing, and Blue was left slightly stunned. It had been too long since she'd had a real conversation with anybody, she was just expecting the ghoul to grunt and go away. Maybe knock her down as well.

But as resilient as glue, Blue quickly bounced back.

"R-Riko? Yeah, I'm Blue…" was all she could think of to say. It was no fair, when she was with her stupid mute caretaker she could think of a million things to talk about, but when she was around somebody who actually looked like they could hold a conversation, her mind was blank.

Luckily the ghoul seemed starved for conversation as well, and kept chatting enough for the both of them.

"You're the cause of a lotta drama 'round here you know. Poor Takatsuki, she won't ever be able to come back home."

"Do you know where Takatsuki is?" asked Blue. "I… miss her."

Riko giggled, covering her mouth with the back of her gloved hand, as if thinking that a human missing a ghoul was the funniest thing. "Nobody knows where she is technically, but…" Riko leaned in, whispering her next words. "But I know from certain sources that she's fled the country. I hear she's in Germany."

"G-Germany?" asked Blue, too ashamed to admit she didn't know where that was.

"Yup. Heard she's got family there. The entire country's in lockdown due to ghoul uprisings, so it would be the perfect place to hide! You know how crafty that Tsuki-chan is. I don't know why you'd go so far as to _miss_ her though. She tried to kill you after all!" Riko again burst into giggles.

Blue shook her head however, and ran a hand across her belly. "No, honestly, I don't have any proof but… I think she was only trying to kill Tatara's baby."

Riko looked interested in this. "That makes sense I suppose," she said, idly picking up the watering can so that she at least looked busy while gossiping. "There was a lot of people who wanted that baby dead after all."

Chills suddenly went down Blue's spine, making her hairs stand on end. "Why? What kind of people?"

Another bone-chilling smile from Riko came. "All I know is, Tatara-sama is getting old. If he dies without an heir, well, someone else is going to have to take over Aogiri, aren't they? In fact, I think the next in line is Eto, and then her daughter Takatsuki."

Realizing that Riko had done absolutely no work since stepping outside, she furiously began to water the flowers, shaking the can around clumsily as if to make up for lost time, drowning the poor flowers beneath it.

Blue had so many more questions to ask this woman who seemed to know so much, but remembered that at the farms at least, you gave secret for a secret.

"Takatsuki had been letting Arata into the Palace whenever Tatara was out. They were planning something big. I think he was coming over almost every day, if not every other day. I even saw him twice, once before the incident where he attacked me."

Riko swung around suddenly, dropping her watering can. "Did he have sex with you?"

Blue felt taken aback, and felt her ears go pink at such a blunt question. "N-no…"

"Oh, that's too bad," she said, forgetting her can and instead bent over into the dirt to pick some weeds. Blue decided to help her. "It would have been funny if you were actually having Arata's kid instead of Tatara-sama's. That's why he's so afraid of letting men see you, you know."

Blue nodded. She figured as much by that point.

"But that stuff about Arata coming over, that's pretty common knowledge among us servants. Nobody ever figured out what they were schemin' though…"

Something in Blue's heart felt satisfied. It had been too long since she had made any meaningful connections with someone. "I wish _you_ were my caretaker instead of _her_ ," she said, pointing a thumb behind her to the still snoozing ghoul behind her. "She's so _awful_. She barely even talks to me."

Riko giggled as she pulled out an incredibly large-rooted weed from the dirt, sending specks flying into Blue's hair. "Oh, that's just how Ao acts, like an uppity stick in the mud. And really, you can't blame her for hating you. She favors Tatara-sama you know. Most of the servants do. It's gotta be awkward for her, since you bang him all the time! But maybe one day she'll open up to you. You both have similar names after all!"

Blue didn't have time to be embarrassed by Riko's crude comment, because her caretaker Ao, apparently, woke from her slumber and stormed over to their corner of the garden.

"What's going on over here?" Ao asked, crossing her arms angrily in front of her chest. "I see you haven't gotten any work done once again, Riko. You're the most useless out of all the servants, I don't know why Tatara-sama keeps you around."

"I was getting around to it…" said Riko, pouting slightly, dusting off her unusually clean work trousers.

"It was my fault," interrupted Blue, not wanting her new friend to get in trouble because of her. "I forced her to talk with me since you never do."

"Is that right?" Ao squinted her eyes as she looked between both guilty parties. "Well then, let's go back to the Room so that you don't keep bothering the servants who are trying to do their jobs."

And with that, the two left.

Before disappearing behind the gate, Blue looked back quickly, just in time to see Riko giving her a wink.

* * *

The next day Blue waited all day for Riko to show up, but not even a new gardener came around lunch time, or through dinner.

When nobody came the next day either, or even the week after that, Blue had to ask.

"If you're looking for your beloved Riko, you should know as head of the servant staff, I relieved all gardeners of their duties. You said it yourself didn't you? You can take care of the gardening from now on, right?"

Blue immediately had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Hadn't she said that to Riko when Ao was asleep? Was Ao listening in on their entire conversation?

But ultimately, Blue felt sad. She was hoping not only to ask more questions to her new friend, like if there was a plot to kill Tatara, and if she could help her Escape, but most of all, she was just hoping for companionship. Even if Riko ended up being more like Takatsuki than she liked, anything would have been better than being stuck with Ao, who she just figured out hated her guts because of something she couldn't control.

"She was nice to talk to, something you never do," Blue said snidely, knowing those comments would get her nowhere, but still finding them difficult to refrain from.

"Maybe, just maybe, she talked a little _too_ much, and now that idiot Riko got what she deserved." There was something sinister about the way Ao said these words that made Blue's burnt skin crawl. So the ghoul had been listening in on their conversation the whole time. In that case, Blue had also talked a little too much.

"Anyway, you can't be out all day today," said Ao curtly, resuming her position at

the end of the garden by the fence. "Tatara-sama will be visiting tonight."

* * *

"I heard you started a vegetable garden," said Tatara as soon as he stepped in the door. Most of the time the King was silent during their visits, and expected absolute silence in return, but every once in awhile he would be in a talkative mood. Perhaps this was one of those times.

Even still, Blue only nodded from the Bed. Freshly clean with a new set of clothes. Although they wouldn't be on for much longer.

"I'll admit I thought it was a waste of time at first, but I think it's been good," said the King absently as he slipped off his shoes. "You look healthier. Less disgusting to look at."

After unbuckling his belt and untucking the button-down shirt from his pants, he leaned over the Bed towards her, resting a hand on her cheek. It was probably the gentlest touch she had ever received from him. Even still, Blue could recognize the touch of a predator.

"You're skin is burnt," he commented, making Blue's skin turn even redder. "Don't think I'll go easier on you though, even if you flinch."

Blue turned her head, removing her face from his grasp, and instead focused her attention on a spot on her thumb. "No wonder why all the servants fawn all over you."

Blue thought she had just wondered this sarcastic sentence silently in her mind, but was frightened to realize that she had spoken these words out loud. Unlike Takatsuki, Tatara hated being teased or talked to like this. He only allowed her to speak respectfully to him or not at all, and he wasn't afraid to deal out punishment.

Thankfully, he seemed intrigued by her statement more than upset.

"The servants… fawn over me?" he said, slightly amused. He pulled his shirt off over his head, before leaning backwards on the Bed, resting his head on his palms.

Blue nodded, thinking that perhaps the King wanted to be praised more. "A lot of them really like you. It's easy to tell why," she said, hoping to save a little face from her previous comment.

"Idiot servants," he mumbled. "You too. You're all idiots of a lesser breed. Of course _they_ should like me. I'm their King. But there's no reason for _you_ to. In fact, you shouldn't like me at all. If you do, it just means I've been too soft on you."

Blue sat on the Bed, still staring at the focal point of her thumb, not knowing how to respond to that. But luckily Tatara wasn't in the mood for an answer.

"I can't believe I'm getting married soon."

 _Married?!_

"To the leader of the ghoul organization in Germany," he said absently, closing his eyes. And then, as if reading her mind, "Not to _you_ , idiot. As if I'd marry a filthy human like you. Ah, but I still need you, don't I?"

"You need me to produce an Heir," she responded, wanting him to continue on about Germany - that place Riko had mentioned - but not sure how to get him to go on without being pushy.

"Yes, a one-eyed ghoul… Don't think you're special or anything though. There have been other humans before you. But they've all been failures."

Blue tilted her head to the side and turned around to face him on the Bed. One-eyed ghoul? What was he talking about? Is that what a child of their union would be? She was imagining a grotesque, cyclops-like monster emerging from her womb, and instantly felt sick.

"But you don't need to worry about those things," Tatara said after a while, sleepily. "You said it is easy to tell why the servants… like me. Do you... like me?"

 _Now_ the King wanted an answer!

She tried desperately to find a way to answer this question. Mostly because she didn't know the answer herself. He was cruel and horrible, and even sadistic at times, and he kept her locked up in that Room as his sex slave, basically. None of those entirely endearing traits. And yet there was something about him that made her heart thump in her chest. Maybe it was just Stockholm's syndrome.

Either way, she could understand why Ao and the other servants felt the way they did about him. It was his looks and his royal charm. Everything about him screamed predator. Any girl with unresolved daddy issues would fall head over heals for him.

"Sometimes," she decided on, hoping he had fallen asleep by then. For a while he didn't move, and she thought maybe her wish had come true. But then he sat up.

"You haven't heard anything more about Takatsuki while gossiping with the servants about me, have you?"

Blue shook her head immediately. If there was anything she was good at besides making babies, it was lying.

Luckily Tatara wasn't expecting much anyway.

"Well, let's get this done fast tonight, I can't sleep here. I have a lot of work to do in my office tonight."

* * *

It was a curious thing, as to why there were Roses in the flower garden, and it bothered Blue, even more than the strange fence that was always looming over it.

Taktasuki was overseeing the gardener who planted it all, right?

 _Remember me when you go out into your new garden…_

But if Takatsuki hated the Roses so much, why would she allow the gardener to plant them?

Blue had been sitting in the grass after breakfast, contemplating the reason for them since the moment she saw them. Something about them felt ominous, but she couldn't quite place it.

Either way the Roses above anything else in the garden reminded her of the green haired ghoul, who always carried the insignia around her neck.

"Thank you," Blue said out loud to the Roses. It must have been a few months since she had seen her old caretaker now, and she was missing her terribly. "Thank you so much Takatsuki, for all you've done. And even though, you did it for selfish reasons, thank you for killing Tatara's baby."

She realized she must be silly for talking to some stupid flowers, but as ominous as they felt, they were still comforting. It actually described her relationship with Takatsuki quite poetically.

She especially needed the comfort the flowers provided at that moment. Because through some miracle - or maybe curse - Blue found herself pregnant once more.


	7. The Wedding

**Hey ~ It's been a while. I realize there are a lot of unanswered questions in this story, so over the course of this chapter and the next (which I have a plan for) I hope to answer at least most of them! Don't worry, that doesn't mean this is I'm ending this, at least not for a while. Oh, and a lot of people have been asking for more canon characters, so be expecting that in the next chapter!**

 **The beginning of this starts with a lot of dialogue, so bear with me, it gets better.**

* * *

Blue rubbed a hand over her swollen stomach and turned around to take another lap around the yard. Tatara's baby was due soon, Blue could feel it.

It was a dark, chilly night to take a walk, but it was practically impossible to get any sleep with all the music and festivities going on in the city. It wasn't as if Ao could get to sleep either, irritated that she hadn't been invited to the party, but instead was stuck babysitting the King's pet human. So out they were, going for a midnight stroll in the gardens.

Tonight was the Wedding between Tatara and his new Queen after all - forging Japan's alliance with Germany. _Nobody_ in the city would be getting any sleep tonight.

Although the pain of Blue's current pregnancy was different from that time Takatsuki had poisoned her, carrying a half-ghoul within her hurt like no other child had before. This was by far the most difficult pregnancy any human could ever have. Luckily her body had been strengthened by working the gardens, because it was very likely that she never would have made it in that frail state she was in before.

But Blue's body was built for hardy work like this.

And then, just as Blue and Ao were about to loop around the yard for the fourth lap that night, a loud bang sounded from somewhere far off.

The ground began to shake as the city rumbled and roared to life with greater flashing lights and terrified screams. Or were they shouts of joy and laughter? Blue couldn't tell the difference.

Ao's reaction however seemed evidence enough that something not quite right was happening. Without pausing to explain, the caretaker quickly ran across the grass to the gate, not even bothering to tell Blue to 'stay put', as she chained up the door behind her.

What was going on?

Ao was gone for a considerable length of time - the longest Blue had ever been left alone since the discovery of her pregnancy.

Inspecting over by the Fence proved useless, as absolutely nothing could be seen through it, nor over it. What was going on outside was a complete and total mystery.

Just then however, as Blue was about to run over to the gate and start pounding on the door to demand answers, a rustling sound began behind her, just beyond the Fence.

"H… Hello?" Blue asked, running over to that part of the wall. "Is somebody there?"

" _Hey Blue-chan!"_ said a small voice, just inches away, although beyond the thickness of the Fence and still out of reach.

Takatsuki? No, the voice sounded more like…

" _It's me, Riko!"_

Riko? What was she doing here?

" _I came to say goodbye."_

"Wait!" she whispered back. "Why are you still alive? I thought Ao…" Did Blue think Ao killed Riko? Probably.

" _Ao tried to punish me,"_ Riko explained, giggling from somewhere beyond the Fence. " _She might be queen bee around here, but she's not god. Anyway, I got away! Some of the servants and I are escaping to Germany tonight."_

 _Escape_? Blue's heart began to beat faster at the mention of the word. "You found a way to Escape? How?"

" _Relax my simple-minded little Blue-chan!"_ Riko said, voice quivering with excitement. " _It looks like the Human Resistance Movement is taking advantage of the opportunity to bomb the city right now, what with all these ghouls gathered together in Tokyo for the Wedding. Can't you hear it now? Humans can be smart little creatures, can't they?"_

As if on cue, another huge Boom hit, shaking the ground underneath their feet.

" _So in the midst of the humans bombing the city, and with all the planes heading to and from Germany to escape, it'll be easy to sneak on and off one undetected -"_

Blue stopped listening. All she could think of was their imminent Escape. "That's a good plan! Then we'll meet up with Takatsuki in Germany!"

An eruption of giggles on the other side of the Fence told Blue she had something wrong.

" _Silly Pet-chan! What do you mean 'we'? Why would I do something stupid like come to help you Escape? If I take you with us, that'll just increase our likelihood of getting caught. They'll send hordes after you, you know. But maybe you just don't know how important you really are?"_

Only silence came from Blue's side of the Fence, while more bombs began to drop on the city around them, covering the sky in thick smoke.

" _Well let me enlighten you then,"_ Riko explained. " _The Human Resistance is gaining in advances, in newer technologies to try and wipe us out. We are at a full blown_ War _here, it's not just us trying to 'stamp out a rebellion'. Otherwise, why would Japan need an alliance with Germany, you know? Pretty soon Aogiri Tree is going to need more and more treaties with other ghoul-dominated countries if we want a fighting chance against the humans. Poor, poor Tatara-sama is getting older and older too… He'll die soon and then the German ghouls will take over, via his marriage alliance with Takatsuki."_

Marriage with… Takatsuki?

" _Oh, did I not tell you? Takatsuki's father is the King of the Rosewalds, the German Ghoul organization. But of course, everybody knows there's no way Tatara-sama will hand Aogiri Tree over to Germany- he won't even let Eto or Ayato have it. He wants his own blood to continue the throne."_

Riko was practically shouting now, and even so was barely audible over the carpet bombing taking place overhead.

What was Riko talking about? Germany? Technologies? War? Blue didn't understand any of these words. Was Takatsuki really marrying Tatara? If so, there was absolutely no way Tatara could have known, otherwise he would never have agreed to it. The shaking of the city was shaking right through Blue's bones now.

" _Don't worry though!" Riko continued. "If your little half-ghoul baby isn't up to Tatara-sama's standards, I'm sure he'll just kill it like the rest of them. So the good news is you won't have to suffer looking at it for too long! But then of course, he might kill you too..."_

"I don't understand! What are you saying? Why did Takatsuki..."

' _Leave me behind'_ was what Blue wanted to say. Thinking that however just made Blue feel even more stupid, so she stopped herself mid sentence. _Why would a ghoul who tried to poison me want to save me anyway?_ she thought.

" _Oh, I almost forgot,"_ Riko said, reading her mind. " _Before I leave I have to tell you that Takatsuki-sama didn't_ completely _forget about you, you know. You still haven't opened your present underneath the rose garden after all."_

Underneath the rose garden…?

" _That's right, I meant to tell you the first time I met you, but we got interrupted by that awful Ao-chan didn't we? Takatsuki buried It there when I was working on your garden. She said the roses would mask the scent of It. Hell if I know what she wanted you to use It for though."_

Just then a loud crash came from dangerously close by, and shook the ground once more, but this time sending dust and debris scattering about around them. In the sky, Blue could see something that looked like a moving mass of lights fly overhead, like a phoenix on fire. But soon it was gone.

" _Oh look at the time! I best be off now ~ I wouldn't want the other servants to get on the plane without me. Have fun opening your present Pet-chan! Maybe we'll meet again someday…"_

At these parting words, Blue quickly left her place at the Fence and dashed across the yard, as fast as the kicking half-ghoul in her womb would allow. She did not have much time.

Once by the rose section of the garden Blue collapsed hard onto her knees, hearing them crack with pain as she went, and proceeded to rip the red flowers out of the ground from their roots, dirt and petals flying everywhere, looking more like fallout scattering about around her.

" _Your fence outside is almost ready by the way. I've made... personal arrangements with the gardener. When you get to play outside for the first time, remember me…"_

Those were the words Takatsuki said to her. Of course! Why didn't Blue figure it out sooner?

As soon as she saw the roses in the garden, Blue should have realized that they had no place there. She should have dug them up ages ago, and when she reworked the soil, she definitely would have found It - whatever It was! The gift left just for her!

Something was buried here! Something meant for her alone, given to her by Takatsuki! She wasn't forgotten!

Blue grabbed more handfuls of dirt and ripped it from the earth. It was imperative to get to whatever the thing was before Ao came back. Blue had never been left alone this long without supervision, and this might be her only chance.

And then her hands finally made contact with something unnatural deep within the soil.

Blue didn't know what she was expecting to find buried there under the rose garden, but what was closed in her hands certainly wasn't it. The item was soft and warm, and just like the Fence, felt as if it were alive.

Instead of a Fence however, it took the form of a knife. A Living Knife.

 _Does Takatsuki want… me to kill myself?_

A swift kick in the ribs from her insides jolted Blue out of confusion. Maybe she was meant to kill the child?

Without hesitation, Blue grasped tightly onto the hilt of the Living Knife with cold and sweaty palms. However, seconds before she was able to carry out her newfound mission of plunging the Living Knife deep into her stomach, she collapsed to the ground - in pain.

Was she drowning?

No, but soon the lower half of her body was covered in a thick wetness. Blood and fluid filled the space around her, sinking into the ground and making the grass slippery.

What a time to start giving birth!

It was as if the monster inside of her knew what was about to happen to it, and decided at that moment to begin coming out, in protest.

Blue was not left screaming out in pain for too long however, for just then the gates began to clank open. Temporarily deafened by noises of the bombs crashing closer and closer to her ear drums, her world became like one submerged in water, with things happening in slow motion.

She half-attempted to hide the Living Knife before Ao could make it over to her spot lying on the grass, but had difficulty finding it again. Wasn't it in her hands just seconds before? Maybe she had dropped it when she collapsed.

But as blood quickly rushed out of her body, concealing the Living Knife wasn't a priority anymore. In seconds Ao was upon her, easily picking up her fragile, writhing body in both arms, and burst back through the gate.

As they made their way through the interior of the palace to the kitchen, Ao began barking orders at all the servants huddled around that had gathered to watch what was taking place. Like something odd to gossip about on a cozy afternoon.

Pretty soon they were outside again at the front gate, and eventually sound was able to reach Blue's ears again after the shock subsided, and her senses were flooded once more with the crashing of bombs and shouts of the servants. They were all huddled around a Vehicle, discussing the bombs being dropped on the city and how nobody knew where the driver was. Neither one of them seemed to know how to drive a car, and they seemed to be in the middle of drawing lots when Ao appeared and broke up their circle.

"You idiots! Two of you get in the backseat, I'm driving!" Ao shouted, commanding attention. She was indeed queen bee.

After they were all strapped in, except for Blue still writhing in the front seat, Ao sped off down the drive, swerving and jerking the Vehicle as she went - clearly a novice driver herself. It was uncertain as to how long they were out on the road for, however - when it happened. The thing that changed Blue's world forever.

Without due warning, a large bomb dropped right on top of the Vehicle - or so it felt like. Seeing as Blue was still alive however, it most likely it dropped a few meters ahead.

It was definitely close enough to feel the impact, however. For a moment the Vehicle was thrown back - airborne - and the passengers lurched forward and back down again. Blue turned to look into Ao's horrified kakugan for a split second, before the passenger-side door flung off, sending Blue flying out of the car with it.

How was Blue still conscious for all of this?

Uncertain of what was actually happening, Blue felt her body land hard onto the pavement below, just as the car exploded a few feet away, erupting in flames. Again Blue went momentarily deaf. However, almost as if immune to fire and explosions, the monster within her womb kept coming out, determined to be born on this day, even if it killed its host.

At least, if it was the most painful pregnancy she ever had to endure, it was also one of the quickest.

Just seconds after colliding with the ground, Blue could feel the ghoul's body pass through her own in one final push. Finally, thankfully, unconsciousness overcame Blue, and she was able to rest against the cold pavement.

* * *

When Blue awoke, it was still nighttime outside and her hearing had still not returned. If her ear drums were not completely ruptured, she would at least be partially deaf for the rest of her life.

Blood was splattered along the alleyway where she laid, and the flesh on her arms and legs were all but torn away, and what remained was severely burned.

The car was still up in flames beside her, and the crater in the road from where the bomb had hit was just meters ahead of that.

How did she survive all this? Did the universe not know Blue wanted to die in peace already?

After regaining some feeling in her limbs, she attempted to sit up, but was physically unable to. The amount of blood Blue had lost was teetering on the edge of impossible-to-resuscitate, and she felt weak and cold. Looking around the alley that would inevitably become her grave, her eyes fell on the one thing she definitely wished had _not_ survived.

The Monster child - she assumed it was crying since its mouth was moving, although she could not hear it - was covered in blood, and laid pitifully at her feet.

 _The only thing that can possibly make this situation better would be if it died too, right?_

Blue reached down to pull it up closer, closing her hands around it's small neck - but before she could successfully suffocate it, she was taken aback by its appearance.

Perhaps Blue was expecting something more disgusting or more inhuman, but what laid beneath her cold grasp was the simple image of a baby - like any of the other babies she had birthed before.

It was a boy - this half-ghoul thing - and its thin wisps of hair were a translucent white, just like his father Tatara's, but everything else looked entirely human.

Blue had never killed anybody before in her life.

Maybe if the silently screaming baby looked different - like, if it had a kagune protruding from its back, or if it had just one, bulging eye in the center of its forehead - Blue would be able to kill it. Maybe if it was still inside of her womb back at the rose garden, where at least she didn't have to look into its apparently human face, she could kill it. But the baby was undeniably human - and it rendered her immobile.

Regardless of its humanity, here and now, staring into it's normal brown eyes (just like hers), any violence towards it - _him_ \- was impossible. It was a baby boy. Her motherly instincts took over, and Blue found herself lifting up the child further and holding it in her arms protectively instead.

Her hearing returned gradually, if somewhat dampered, and Blue could finally hear its very normal, childlike screams and crys.

"Hush now," she whispered into his ear. "Don't c-cry."

Awkwardly, Blue attempted to sing a song that was sung to the kids at the nursery back at the Farms. It was a song about growing big and strong and useful, so that the ghoul's wouldn't eat them right away. But the current baby in her arms would never have that problem, would he?

What sort of privileges would be granted him as a half-ghoul? With a body split in half between two very different worlds?

Still, even though it wasn't appropriate for the situation, the song was the only one she could think of to sing, and it seemed to be calming the baby. He stopped crying and instead turned to stare intently into her eyes, as if able to understand every lyric.

"There there, you can't cry anymore ok? Or the ghouls will hear you."

Blue was delusional now, but held the child closer to her still, shielding it away from the flames of the Vehicle that was still roaring next to them. If they didn't receive help soon, they'd both die there together, in each other's arms. The child, not sharing her fears, only snuggled up closer to her chest and closed its eyes, reaching out and grabbing her finger. He held her finger close as he fell asleep, as if comforted by the fact his mother was near. Oblivious to the fact that she had tried to kill him just seconds before.

Together, they fell asleep like that, as bombs continued to crash down around them - a different kind of lullaby.

* * *

The slow beeping of the Vet monitors was the first thing alerting Blue that she was still alive.

Damn.

"The baby," she whimpered, finding herself unable to move at all. "Where's my baby?"

"Take it easy, take it easy," responded the venomously smooth voice of Kanou. He must have been sitting somewhere in the room with her, but it was impossible to rotate her head around to check for certain. "And since when is it 'your baby'? Wasn't it a 'monster' just weeks ago during your last visit?"

Blue wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but her throat was hot and dry and it was too much of a strain on her lungs to even get enough oxygen to breath, let alone cuss him out. Hadn't she almost died? No, Blue must be already be dead. If she was sent to hell it would explain why Kanou was there too.

"The baby is alive," he continued after she made no effort to respond. "You on the other hand... I'm not so sure if you'll make it."

 _Then just let me die_ , Blue thought. _If it's going to happen, then just let it - I'm ready. My baby is safe and I'm ready to die._

But Kanou had a different story to tell.

"Tatara said I should have just left you there on the street," he began. "Which honestly would have been _my_ professional opinion, given the state you were in. But surprisingly it was _Ao_ who pushed me to get you help."

 _So, Ao made it after all? And the bombs seemed to have missed Tatara as well. Damn._

"So since Ao was so passionate about defending you, and since you were going to die in a few hours anyway, I figured I could at least perform some Experiments on you, so your death wouldn't be a _complete_ waste."

… _Ao did that?_ Blue didn't think her caretaker gave a care in the world about her safety, inasmuch as it concerned Tatara.

"Ao refused let me turn you into a half-ghoul, since Tatara would see you as a threat and definitely kill you."

Half-ghoul? Experiments? What the hell kind of a Vet…

"But luckily for you I have a few more tricks up my sleeves than simple half-ghoulification. There have been new advances in technology not just with the Human Resistance, but for me as well. I've been specifically commissioned by Tatara for this purpose after all. My scientific query was - how can I mass produce natural half ghouls? In other words, how can I keep human women alive long enough to deliver a half-ghoul baby? How can I make this process more simple - more easy on the frail human body - without giving them enough resources to be able to fight back?"

"I don't care," said Blue, finding the strength to begin moving around the Bed a little more. She hated beds and she didn't want to be laying on it any more than necessary. Most of all however, Blue no longer wanted to talk to a man that called his own kind 'human', as if he wasn't one himself. "Where is Ao? Where is my baby?"

Her and Ao were never particularly close, although during the months leading up to the Wedding, their relationship had upgraded from absolute silence and cold stares, to the occasional small talk, with even some shared inside jokes. When you spend 24/7 with just one other person for months on end, both humans _and_ ghouls tended to seek companionship desperately. Plus, once Blue was found pregnant, Tatara no longer had need to continue visiting his pet human, which softened Ao's attitude towards her tremendously.

"How do I extract the favorable qualities from inserting a kagune," Kanou said, ignoring Blue's rebellious outburst and continued droning out his scientific monologue. He struck Blue as the type that liked to hear his own voice ramble on. "Qualities like superior regenerative powers and a stronger constitution, without extracting the unfavorable ones as well? These are the questions that have kept me up at night. And then I found the solution while Experimenting with your body!"

"Where's Ao?" Blue screamed, jumping out of bed and pulling off the wires and tubes connecting with her flesh. But something wasn't right.

 _Her flesh._

All the skin that was previously burnt or scrapped off from the bombing seemed to have magically regrown itself to perfection. Hell, there weren't even any scars. Her hearing was in optimal condition as well. Not to mention, all of her bones and joints that were previously broken or at least fractured, seemed a little stiff and sore now but were otherwise fully functioning. None of this was natural.

"What… What the hell did you do to my body? How many days have past since the Wedding?"

"It has been exactly three weeks time," Dr. Kanou explained, lip curling into an evil smile. "And what did I do to your body? I made it better of course! You're probably already feeling the improvements. You see, there's this special frame release surgery that the Human Resistance Movement has created. Genius work really. From that knowledge, I found a way to insert a kakuhou directly into your back without releasing any of the frames. The humans use this technique on their soldiers to make them stronger without turning them completely into half-ghouls. They call them quinx."

"I'm not that smart!" shouted Blue. All of a sudden she felt very cold. "Explain to me what is happening using words that I can understand! _What the hell did you do to me?_ "

"Relax," Kanou said, reclining in his chair. "Basically, you have a ghoul's kakuhou inside of you, but you aren't able to use it.

"You made me… into a Monster? Into one of _them_?"

Why on earth would Ao consent to this surgery? Why? Blue never asked for any of this!

"No, I didn't. You are technically still fully human. I doubt you could even produce a kakugan in your eye at all. The only difference you'll notice is your sensory reception will greatly increase, along with regeneration, constitution, and even some increases in strength and agility. Of course, you'll be nowhere near as powerful as a real ghoul - at least that's the hope."

Ghoul's have taken almost everything away from her, and now they have stolen her humanity!

"Why would you do something like this to me?" Tears were now streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. She couldn't think of the last time she had cried. "Why are you people like this? You are all cruel, sick sons of…"

Dr. Kanou stood up from his chair and walked over to his desk drawer, pulling out a long syringe filled with clear liquid, and flicked it a few times. "I can continue answering your questions, but if you don't calm down right now, I'm afraid I'll be forced to sedate you."

It was then Blue realized her position - currently standing behind the Bed, brandishing the IV stand out in front of her and swinging it back and forth like a lunatic. Instantly she dropped it, and it clattered to the floor.

Slowly, she stepped over it and walked towards the window to allow the sunlight to wash over her. Indeed, she could already feel a difference in her sensory receptors. She needed a moment to breath and calmly assess the situation.

"So what, I'm like a superhuman now?" she whispered after a few moments, eyes looking out onto the carpet bombed city below. If only the humans were able to hit the hospital with one of their bombs too, she thought. The vet building seemed to be the only place untouched by the human bombs for miles on end. What luck.

Placing the sedative back into the desk drawer and locking it shut, Kanou spun around in his chair to face her and flashed another eerie smile. "I suppose you could say that, if it makes you feel better about your situation. Although I should warn you that you're the first person I've ever performed this Experiment on. It has the potential to go incredibly wrong, and in such a case, you'll be killed."

Blue shrugged her shoulders, resigning herself to the fate Ao assigned to her. "I'm dead either way though, right?"


	8. The Escape

The months after the 'wedding disaster', Blue spent living at the hospital with Dr. Kanou and the other bomb survivors. Seeing as the rest of the city was in shambles anyway, there was really nowhere else to go. All survivors in the city, which were few and far between, set up something like a tent-city on the first floor of the hospital, rich and poor ghoul alike, coming together to seek comfort after all that they had was blown away by the Resistance. Blue didn't really feel bad for them though.

Ao now was in charge of the baby's 24/7 caretaking, leaving Blue with too much unsupervised free time on her hands. She was all but allowed to leave the hospital building on her own, although if she tried to leave, it was doubtful anybody would stop her. Now that the baby arrived, Blue was old news. Chopped liver.

It was nerve wracking to be alive knowing that she was no longer useful to Tatara. If she was planning on Escape, now might be a better time than any to try it. The Resistance had come and gone, but maybe they weren't too far away - maybe just beyond the city. Maybe just barely out of reach, as her salvation always was.

But it was Fear that kept its invisible chains on her wrists and ankles, shackling her down to the confines of the hospital. Wasn't Blue ready to Escape that night Riko came to the fence? Maybe it was the fact that Escape would be lonely on her own. Blue wouldn't even know what direction to start heading in after all. Or perhaps it was simply stockholmes syndrome, rearing its ugly head yet again. Although this life with ghouls was terrible, she knew how to survive in it at least.

Besides, things weren't _so_ bad at the the hospital. Right? The nurses came and brought her three meals a day, and the food was better than at the Palace. Blue was able to wander about freely - and go outside even - whenever she wanted to without Ao breathing down her neck, or barred doors blocking her passage. Maybe it was possible for her to get a job working in the hospital kitchen, or in the nursery ward. She could spend the rest of her miserable life here, and it wouldn't be _so_ bad.

Often, Blue found herself visiting her baby in that nursery ward. She wasn't allowed to be alone with him (Tatara's orders), but Ao allowed her to otherwise spend as much time there as she'd like.

"What do you want to name him?" asked Ao one day. The more days they spent at the hospital together, the friendlier they became.

Blue had raised an eyebrow at that question. "Name? What do you mean? What's his tag number?"

"He doesn't have a tag number, stupid," Ao said. "He's not at a processing plant. Nobody's going to eat him. He's a ghoul - well, a half ghoul. That means he can have whatever name you'd like."

Ghouls had odd customs, and Blue was uncertain as to what kind of name Ao was expecting her to come up with.

"Maybe... Shiro," Blue said, playing with the soft wisps of his white hair as he snoozed peacefully on her chest. "No, nevermind. Shiro is just another tag identifier. Maybe… Sake. Because his hair is white like the sake we would make in the fields on special holidays. And he makes me happy like sake does."

Ao gave her a stern look, as if Sake was the worst possible name anybody could choose.

That's right, ghouls couldn't drink sake could they? If her baby could never drink sake either, it would be a cruel thing to name him.

"Ok, ok," Blue said, thinking about it a little bit harder. "How about Yuki, like the snow in winter?"

"Are all the names you can think of only because of the color of his hair?" asked Ao, snorting in disgust. Blue was already used to her gruff attitude to be offended by now though.

Blue shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I always wished my tag color was black. Then my name would match my hair color at least. Blue doesn't fit me at all."

Ao had looked at her strangely then. "I think it fits you better than you think." Then without giving her a chance to respond, "I guess it doesn't matter what you call him though. Tatara-sama will ultimately decide. I just wanted to know what you thought."

* * *

It wasn't until three months after the 'wedding disaster' that Tatara finally visited the hospital. Him and his mysterious bride had been flown out of the city for safety reasons, and he had been busy since, with whatever else kings occupy themselves with.

When Tatara arrived, Blue was exploring the attic of the hospital building - with all of its dwindling supplies - and happen to glance out the window when the armored vehicle pulled into the torn up front yard. With all the grace and airs of a true king, Tatara strode across the lawn with his posse of ghouls behind him - his loyal subjects. She noted a haggard looking Ayato with the bunch, but no woman that might have looked like a queen.

Everything in Blue told her to stay away from Tatara - to find an abandoned hospital room and hide in it for a few hours. But her own curiosity and lack of self respect caused her to jump right into the frying pan yet again, and without delay hurriedly climb down the stairs.

Tatara stormed into the building, instantly commanding the attention of all the doctors, orderlies, and homeless ghouls in the vicinity. Surely, they were all awaiting some sort of king's speech at his arrival - something to explain what happened two months ago and to calm their growing fears that the humans might be invading. But the king walked straight past them all, clearly not interested in consoling anybody.

There was only one reason Tatara was visiting the hospital that day and he was determined to do it as soon as possible, and then get back to his more pressing duties.

Following just far enough away to not be seen, Blue trailed after them. Having ghoulish senses, she knew that somebody could probably at least smell her close by, if they were body guards worth their salt that is, but she hoped that at least Tatara would be unable to recognized her new quinx scent.

"Where is it?" demanded Tatara, entering the nursery and snapping his fingers at Ao sitting leisurely in a rocking chair. "Let me see it. Now." Seeing as all the guards followed into the room after him, Blue was free to stand close to the doorway and peer inside.

Instantly Ao stood up and placed the tiny, sleeping Prince from the crib gently into his father's arms.

"He's completely healthy," began Ao, eager to give some sort of report.

"I'm not an idiot," responded Tatara, "I can see that." He was clearly not interested in hearing what Ao had to say, and instead began examining the child as if it held some deep, hidden secret inside.

And then, as if the horrors in this hospital weren't enough already, Tatara did the unthinkable. With his free arm, like a viper, he came down and struck at the baby's neck. Blood gushed forth and sprayed onto the linoleum.

"No!" shouted Blue, unable to sit still after seeing the blood drip from Tatara's fingers. She ran fast and flung herself at him. For some reason she was fast enough to slip past the guards, but Tatara moved out of the way just in time, sending her crashing down against one of the nearest cribs instead.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Tatara grumbled, raising an eyebrow and giving Blue a swift kick in the ribs. "It looks like Kanou managed to save this piece of filth. Why do you care about this baby anyway? I thought you hated it."

Tatara wasn't demanding a real answer, but Ao gave him one anyway, eager to save Blue from an impending death.

"It's hard for a mother to _not_ love her child once she's given birth to it - Blue has been here everyday to spend time with him. I think it's good for a son to be with his mother, too. It's healthy for-"

"Whatever," Tatara said, waving her off and passing the bleeding, crying baby over to Ao once more. "I've lost interest. Take me to Kanou. He has to mend this child, and then we have business to discuss."

Just as everybody was about to exit the room, leaving Blue sprawled on the floor with a few cracked ribs, Ayato shot her a nervous glare. In fact, he had been avoiding her gaze the entire time until now, and as if he regretted looking, stormed out the door first. That's right, if Blue wanted, she could ruin his entire life right now couldn't she? He had been plotting with Eto and Takatsuki to kill her baby after all. Ayato and Blue weren't allies here, but tattling on him to Tatara wouldn't accomplish anything either.

Still, having the need to shout out something anyway, she called, "Wait! What about me? What's my purpose here? Do I just get to… to go on living like this?" Well, it was more like a whimper, and just like Tatara, she wasn't expecting a real response by it.

That's why it was surprising when the king gave pause, blocking the doorway to his subordinates. Tatara turned around, face blank beneath the mask secured there, but kakugan activated. "I no longer have any interest in you - you've given me what I wanted. The child has passed the test. If Ao or Kanou wish to keep you as their pet guinea pig, I could care less. But if I ever see you approach me again, I will kill you."

And with that, the whole crowd left the room, Blue taking one last look at her crying baby, with his right eye's kakugan activated, the other normal, and tears streaming down both cheeks.

* * *

It's a myth in the ghoul world, these 'natural one-eyes'.

After Tatara's visit, Blue's ribs quickly healed themselves, and then she busied herself with helping the doctors around the hospital take care of patients. It was then Blue heard a lot of stories from the ghouls around.

It was like the ghoul-version of farm gossip.

Artificial half ghouls like Blue were apparently a dime a dozen, especially in this hospital - something of Dr. Kanou's specialty - but a natural half ghoul? That was an anomaly. Needless to say, rumours spread quickly that there was one somewhere in the building.

"I don't know why he decided to hurt his own baby," explained Ao after Tatara and his guards had left. "Tatara-sama seems to think that half ghouls with a kakugan in their right eye are better. Don't ask me to explain his motives in hurting Yan. Even I don't know them."

Yan.

Blue didn't know why Tatara decided to name their baby that, but Ao speculated it was the name of a relative he had once, a long time ago.

"What you should be concerned about instead of the gossip of low-class ghouls," said Ao, wagging a disapproving finger. "Is whether you'll come to the King's new palace and work for me, or stay here as Kanou's slave."

That's right. The Resistance bombed the hell out of Tatara's palace. The only surviving part of the city was in fact the hospital, but even so its west wing and front yard were entirely destroyed.

So, to compensate for the destruction, a new palace was being built somewhere else, and it was supposedly bigger, stronger and more luxurious than the last. After the extra fortifications were set in place, it should be ready possibly within the next couple of weeks. It was hardly enough time to decide if Blue would rather 1.) live in fear of seeing Tatara every day at the palace or 2.) be Kanou's lab rat at the hospital.

"If you want to come with me, you can work as my assistant though, not as a slave" Ao said, refusing to make eye contact but staring at her twiddling thumbs. That was how you knew Ao was being sincere. "I can get you a job working in the kitchen. You can hide there whenever Tatara is visiting. And I'll let you come and see Yan whenever you want, too."

"Does that mean you're going to be Yan's caretaker from now on then?"

Ao let loose one of her rare smiles, although it was more of a smirk. "Don't tell me, with the amount of gossiping you do around the hospital, that you haven't heard the news? Let's just say Tatara-sama wouldn't let his new Queen touch Yan with a ten foot pole. He only trusts me with Yan."

That's right. The Rosewald's apparently promised a nameless princess from Germany. During the wedding ceremony the Princess had her entire face and body veiled and after they pronounced their vows, and it came time to pull the veil over her head, it was none other than Takatsuki underneath.

As if on cue, that was when the Resistance bombs started going off. It was perfectly orchestrated. Rumors said Eto herself called the Human Resistance and told them exactly when and where to start attacking.

Instead, Blue decided to be quippy. "Some of the 'rumors of low-class ghouls' say Tatara's new Queen is Kanou."

"No," said Ao shaking her head. No joke could be funny enough to bend those lips of hers twice in one day. "It's that damn Takatsuki. She's closer to her goals now as second heir to Aogiri Tree, behind Yan."

Of course, now that they were lawfully wedded, there was nothing more Tatara could do, except for silently attempt to kill his new wife until she could be sent back to Germany. Takatsuki of course would be doing some plotting of her own as well.

Since the King and Queen were betrothed, Germany had been sending in soldiers and resources to aid Japan via the alliance. It was almost a fact that Aogiri Tree would fall if the King sent Takatsuki back right now and said to hell with all the Rosewalds and they pulled their aid. For now at least.

But none of these things _really_ mattered to Blue. Takatsuki made it crystal clear that they were not allies anymore, first by trying to poison her, then abandoning her and leaving her with a quinque knife in the rose garden to kill Yan with. Even if Blue got the wrong impression, she had been in Japan for over three months and Takatsuki had still not come to visit.

Even if Tatara could not say it, Blue could - "To hell with all the Rosewalds."

* * *

"I think I'll go to work for you at the new palace," Blue responded after a few days. They were sitting around the nursery, while Yan napped peacefully between them. At that moment a bird flew past the window, and landed on the ruins down on the street, pecking through the rubble for some scraps. Was that where the shop once stood, that once sold human slaves?

Blue wondered absently how those human slaves were doing. If they ever got bought or resold, or if they died in the wreckage of the bombs. Not finding anything of interest however, the bird took off again, flying somewhere out of sight.

"Good," said Ao, nodding her head in approval. "I think that's best."

The reason why Ao had decided to save Blue from the car wreckage was never discussed, just as their recent friendliness towards one another was more of a silent pact. There was never a question of why, just a simple understanding between two creatures. When you're living in hell, even devils get lonely.

"I think it's best too," Blue said, smiling out the window and wondering where on earth that bird, which was so much more free than her, decided to fly off to.

* * *

Blue was uncertain as to what exactly 'a job in the kitchens' meant for ghouls, and was horrified to discover the answer when Ao decided to place her there in the new palace. Processing human corpses and packaging them up in the palace kitchens made Blue gag and vomit nearly every day, until her stomach became just as jaded as her mind.

According to Ao's promise, Blue was permitted to visit with Yan every day after kitchen work. There she'd sing to him, tell him stories, allow him to play in her new vegetable garden, and whatever else that seemed to make him happy. For the first time since being sent to the farms, Blue felt genuine companionship with someone else. It awakened a new motherly sense in the depths of her soul that she never knew was even there, and it was nice.

It was an amazing thing to watch Yan grow up. He grew quickly and always seemed healthy and happy. Contrary to Blue's expectations for how a part-ghoul baby would act, Yan was always very gentle. He was never too violent - never tried to hurt or bite, never threw temper tantrums nor cried too much, but was always eager to learn and to understand and to laugh.

When he first began to speak, 'mom' was the first thing out of his lips, and it made Blue swell with pride - for she had never heard those words directed at her before - at the farms familial terms were forbidden. For the first time in a long time, not all seemed lost in the world.

Until Yan took his first step.

That day was the first time in two years that Blue saw Tatara's face as well.

And there the king was - scooping up her innocent child and taking him far, far away. She didn't even get to say goodbye to little Yan.

Tatara would kill her if he ever saw her again after all, and she had to hide in the kitchens when Ao alerted her the King was visiting his palace.

It was not the very last time Blue saw Yan, however.

Sometimes, at the very top room of the East wing tower just above the kitchens, where there was a small window from which Tatara's courtyard could be seen, Blue would see Yan training there. He was growing so strong and big every minute, every day, even as the gentle soul that he was.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but on those days that she would climb up the tower in hopes to catch a glimpse of him, she thought she could see him glance up at the window, as if able to sense her presence there. A few times, she thought they even shared direct eye contact and a longing smile, if only for brief seconds.

* * *

Then one day - just after Yan's fifth birthday - Dr. Kanou came to visit, like a typhoon ruining an already bothersome vacation.

You see, it just so happened that on occasion, Blue felt her right eye twitch. Sometimes it was when she was tired or hungry, but most of the time it was because she was on the verge of rage - and this was one of those times.

"There you are my beautiful experiment," he said, arms open wide and lips dripping with their usual venom. She hated that nickname he started using for her. It was demeaning and creepy, just like everything else about his attitude towards her was. "It has been awhile, hasn't it? How is your rc count? How are you feeling? Has that eye been acting up again?"

Blue did not reciprocate the enthusiasm.

"Everything's just fine," she said, standing arms folded in the center of the East wing grand hall, as the front doors swung close behind him. Whenever her rc levels would 'spike' higher than Ao's liking, she would get sent to the 'doctor' (no longer called a Vet), and Kanou would do whatever needed to be done to prevent... whatever they so desired preventing. A spiked rc level usually meant nothing exceptionally odd in terms of symptoms for Blue anyway, except for increases in physical abilities, and sometimes oddly enough, the whites of her right eye would turn a pale gray.

"Glad to hear it," he said, smiling even wider. "I did bring some rc suppressants just in case, but it looks like I won't be needing them, then. I take this to mean you're taking those pills I brought you, everyday then? I told you, when you take your pills I don't have to give you a shot. I know how much you dislike shots."

Blue gave him a quick, half-hearted smile - an expression she copied from Ao, who would use it whenever she was forced to enjoy somebody's company she would rather not be. "Why are you here?" Blue asked, cutting to the chase. "Tatara isn't visiting his palace today. He is gone on a trip."

"That's fine," said Kanou, slowly closing the distance between them. "Because I came to see _you_. I have great news to tell you."

"I don't want to hear it," Blue said immediately, turning up her nose. "I'll go tell Ao you're here and she can meet with you shortly."

"That won't be necessary," he said nodding his ancient head. "Because she already knows I'm here. You see, my business _only_ concerns you. I'm here to tell you that I was able to perfect the experiment I tested on you, and was finally able to replicate it without errors! I replicated it in ten other young human females to be precise."

"Good for you," Blue grumbled, sick to her stomach. Dr. Kanou was too proud of his own twisted Experiments for his own good. "I have to get back to work now. Go have fun wrecking other people's lives."

"No need, no need," he said, waving his hand in the air dismissively. "As I've said, I already spoke to Ao and she knows my business -"

"And how does that business concern me?"

Kanou chuckled. "Very well, my beautiful experiment. My business concerns you, because I require you for another experiment."

Another experiment? What more could he do to her that hadn't already been done?

"This new experiment involves a procedure called IVF. Granted, IVF is not new science by any means, and it has had a significantly lower success rate when attempting between a ghoul and a human. In fact it's practically at zero. But I think I can boost IVF's odds with this new experiment I've invented."

Kanou smirked.

"But I know all you can hear from my end is 'blah blah blah'. So I'll tell you the simplified version, for your simple mind. You are going to have another one of Tatara's babies, and so are these ten other women I've selected. If this experiment is successful, then soon we'll be creating armies of natural-born half ghouls, to supplement our current armies of both full and artificial ghouls."

Blue blinked as Kanou reveled in his accomplishments like a mad scientist. The limits of Kanou's crazy twistedness was without bounds.

"Why do you need me if you have ten other people to experiment on? What if I refuse? "

But Kanou shook his head. "There is no refusing me, my beautiful experiment. Ao already handed you over to me. But of course I warned her that if she didn't, I would have just stepped over her and asked Tatara himself. Most definitely he would say yes… or maybe he would be so angry to have to keep bothering with you that he'd just kill you on the spot. I think you coming with me voluntarily would be the best option for everybody involved."

And so what choice did Blue have? Once more, just like every other moment in her life, she was being pushed along by the currents of other people's whims. Nobody ever asked her what she might want, nor did anybody seem to care. She was chained here in this existence, trapped in this cage as a pet to those stronger than her, and the bondage would not be broken soon.

Surprisingly however, this IVF experiment Kanou was harping on and on about was not what she was expecting.

For a few weeks she was made to stay in Kanou's new hospital with the other unfortunate women chosen, where a series of small surgeries took place. And that was all it was.

A few days later, five out of the eleven of them were confirmed pregnant, Blue included. It was uncertain what happened to the other women who did not make the cut. Where they sent back to the farms? Processing Plant? Back to try the IVF experiment again? Blue never found out, nor heard from them again.

At the hospital the Experiment-women were fed a special diet - somehow slightly more appetizing than the slabs of 'meat' Blue was fed at the palace during her first half-ghoul pregnancy. Somehow as well, Blue didn't feel as if she was going to puke up all the contents of her stomach every time she attempted to fill it. In fact, much to her mental disgust, the 'meat' was slightly appetizing.

Only one woman had a miscarriage by the end of the first month, and then they were down to four - Blue of course, then Gray, Purple and Red.

Red seemed delusional, and was constantly telling stories of how her friends were going to come save her. Purple was too frightened and timid to talk at all - if she even still had her voice box. Gray was about the only one who provided adequate enough conversation to satisfy Blue. If they were at the farms again, Gray would be known as a gossip, but since Blue had a wellspring full of information to feed her, she didn't mind talking so much.

Then one day, a few more months into their pregnancies, Kanou announced that they would be moving.

"We'll all be transferring to a more secure location," he announced to them, although surely regretting phrasing it in that way in front of Red.

"It's because my friends are coming, isn't it!" Red shouted. "My friends are coming for me like they said they would and now you're running away from them! My friends are coming! Secure away from my friends!"

Blue rubbed her temples. It would certainly be a long car ride, wherever it is they were going.

Later that evening they all packed into the back of the armoured vehicle, processing in single file. Purple sat at the back corner of the car in her usual hushed silence, while Red sat at the front, quite the opposite. Blue attempted to hide in the opposite corner of Purple to try and get some shut eye, but Gray found her anyway, a look of mischief in her eyes at their new situation.

"So what do you think's goin' on?" Gray asked. "Why do you think they're moving us? Did you hear any Rumours? You don't think Red's friends are actually coming do ya?"

It was dark in the back of the vehicle and Gray's senses weren't as developed as the rest of women's were, so she couldn't see Blue roll her eyes. "How should I know? We should probably just try to get some sleep. We'll see it in the morning."

Intense and dramatic dreams have been plaguing Blue lately, making it difficult for her to rest at all. Whenever she woke up however, she could never remember what they were about.

Soon, the vehicle jolted to life and began taking them forward, humming softly like a lullaby, and shaking them gently like a rocking chair. In between Red's constant calls for help from her friends, and Gray loudly making her way over to the center of the vehicle and keeping herself entertained with scratching at the floorboards, Blue drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps it was out of pity, or maybe even sadism, but none of the women ever tried to break the truth to Red. The truth that nobody would be coming for them, and all her friends were probably dead.

* * *

The armoured vehicle came to an abrupt stop, sending the pregnant women flying out of their resting areas, and colliding with the bolted door at the back.

"What's going on?" shouted Blue, perturbed from being roughly shaken awake from her restless sleep. Her dreams were filled with that same dream she couldn't remember.

Before the quinx ghoulification surgery, Blue would have definitely been bleeding from the back of her head from the collision against the metal doors. Now, at most, she'd have a headache for a couple seconds.

One blessing amidst the confusion however, was that for once, Red and Gray were silent.

And there they stayed for several minutes, passing the time in silent waiting, wondering when their incapable chauffeurs were going to be opening the doors. Out of all of the women, Purple seemed to have the best hearing capabilities, but since the vehicle seemed to be soundproofed, there was absolutely no way of knowing what was going on outside.

Had they arrived at their destination already? Did they encounter trouble on the road and were stopped?

When it felt like over an hour passed without any further indication of life outside the vehicle, the women began to panic.

What if their captors did indeed encounter trouble, and now the women lay in the back of the locked truck forgotten?

After what seemed like a second hour passed, Gray couldn't handle the pressure anymore. She got up and began pounding on all the walls and floors, trying to find a way to escape. However, before Red could open her mouth and begin anew her petrified screams for help, a loud knocking sounded from the outside of the bolted door.

Immediately, the woman rushed forward and began pounding on it as well.

"Open up! We're still in here!"

"Hey, how could you forget about us?"

"Please! Help!"

And then the doors opened up, but something wasn't right. It only took a fraction of a second for the smell of strange ghouls, and the metallic smell of blood, to fill the vehicle. Had their chauffeurs been hijacked?

Like balls swinging on a pendulum, the women rushed back towards the other end of the vehicle, cowering in fear as the doors opened more fully, sending in the blinding light of the morning sun. Somehow Blue found herself at the forefront of their group, shielding the rest with her own body. Although it was done by accident, she felt kind of like a paladin, protecting the weak. It was fine though, she supposed. If Blue was going to die eventually, it might as well be in style.

What was there for her to do, though? Blue couldn't use the kagune implanted in her back, and was inferior in every way to a real ghoul. Perhaps the only thing she had going for her was speed, so maybe she could distract the attacking ghouls long enough for the other women to make an escape? That shoddy plan would have to do, for soon the doors would be fully opened and there was no longer time for thinking.

But as soon as the doors were fully opened, the vehicle was filled with that blinding light, paralyzing all their senses and Blue was unable to carry out her suicide plan, at least not with any accuracy at all.

But instead of a swarm of aggressive ghouls stepping into the back of their vehicle, only one stepped forward, slowly and carefully. It was a female, and according to her silhouette, an ukaku. It was fiery and winglike, and against the morning sun she looked very much like an angel standing before them. However, presumably after seeing only four defenceless pregnant women trembling in a corner, the female ghoul retracted her kagune, and instead reached out a hand.

"It's ok, you don't have to be afraid anymore. My name is Touka Kirishima, and I work with the Human Resistance Movement. We've come to save you."

* * *

 **Happy New Year everybody! Thanks for all the reviews/support you've all given me this year. Touka is my Christmas gift to you.**


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